


Gliese 1214b

by celerydragon



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: F/F, Science Fiction, Space mermaids, mermaid au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-11
Updated: 2018-12-15
Packaged: 2019-03-17 01:17:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 22,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13648392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/celerydragon/pseuds/celerydragon
Summary: Kyungsoo is a marine botanist, and the rest of her crew, Joonmyeon, the diplomatic leader, Jongdae, a marine biologist and Baekhyun, an oceanographer and part time geologist, are on a mission to investigate the water planet, known in the scientific community as Gliese 1214b.





	1. Log 001

**Author's Note:**

> those of u who follow me on twitter may know of this as 'space mermaids'
> 
> Im not sure how many parts this will be, probably between 4-6? and im not sure how long it will be between updates since at the time of writing this im 3 months away from my deadline for my final uni exhibition :> im sorry if i keep you waiting but please dont give up on me! 
> 
> this fic is dedicated to laura first and foremost, number 1 handholder extraordinaire, as well as indi, riley, sam, marie and bookishvice

Kyungsoo stretches and rubs her throat. Even though she had been told what a neostasis pod would feel like, it still hadn’t prepared her for the raw burning sensation of being unplugged. She can still feel the ghost of the tube in her oesophagus that had kept her alive during the long twenty two years of traveling. And there’s the nausea in the pit of her stomach that she’d been warned about, too.

She scrambles for her glasses, which should be...around here….somewhere. Aha! She had declined corrective retina surgery and doesn’t like the way iLenses feel against her eyelids, so she’s stuck wearing old school spectacles. The room comes into view when she puts them on, and a little bit of her queasiness abates.

If her calculations are correct, then it should be the year 2245 now, since it was 2223 when she left.  _ How long has it been since we landed? _ She wonders. Not too long; the floor in her chamber still has neostasis mist curling around the edges. _ I wonder if the others are up yet _ , she muses, scratching her belly. She needs a shower. And food; her stomach has been empty of real food for over two decades now. Her stomach growls loudly, clearly audible in the small clinical room. Food is definitely her priority right now.

Her legs feel wobbly underneath her when she gets up and she has to hold the wall in order to not fall over. Fuck, how do people manage this regularly? It’s a good thing she hasn’t eaten anything or she would be throwing it up. Maybe she should have that shower first instead.

Carrying a set of uniform to change into afterwards, Kyungsoo manages to track down the washroom, despite the swaying motion. She strips out of her medical gown and switches on the shower with her ID chip, aware that she only gets fifteen minutes of warm water. It’s a shame that they only provided this ship with one perfume of soap, because it’s not her favourite scent. It does the job, however, cleaning her greasy black hair until it squeaks between her fingers. She has the longest hair of everyone on this excursion, long enough for it to reach past her waist, and she prides herself on taking care of it.

After that, she heads back out towards the control room; where she was told she should go to for briefing. Jongdae is already there, drawing aimless patterns on the the circular table in the centre of the room where she’s sat. She looks up when Kyungsoo enters, a smile gracing her boyish face.

“About time,” she snarks. Kyungsoo gives her the middle finger, knowing perfectly well the woman’s competitive nature. She probably raced here, just so she could rub it in people’s faces that she was first.

Joonmyeon, the captain, and Baekhyun are still nowhere to be seen. Kyungsoo guesses all they can do is wait for them to arrive and pulls out a seat to join Jongdae at the table.

“How do people do this on a regular basis.” Kyungsoo complains, her stomach feeling like it’s trying to gnaw its way out of her, but unsure whether she would actually be able to keep any food down.

“I have no idea.” Jongdae agrees, rubbing her eyes. “Have you eaten yet?”

“No.”

“Me neither.” Jongdae nods. “Maybe after briefing we can get something small to eat.”

“Maybe.” Kyungsoo hums, wishing there were a window in the hull of this ship, rather than just screens and monitors. The floor of the ship rocks, like they’re on a boat on earth, which means they’re floating on the top of the all-ocean planet, imaginatively nicknamed ‘water world’.

She wants to see the surface of this planet desperately; before leaving on the voyage, she had trained for years in preparation for this, both physically and mentally. It was intense, but definitely worth it. She could go to the viewing deck, she supposes, but if the captain shows up in her absence she might get in trouble. Then again, Joonmyeon was always a bit of a pushover, unless it’s a life or death situation. 

She can wait, she decides. Briefing, food,  _ then _ viewing deck. 

Joonmyeon is the next to appear, looking just as dishevelled as everyone else. Her brown hair is up in a messy ponytail and she’s holding an iHolo. Distracted, she greets Jongdae and Kyungsoo, seating herself nearby and scrolling through her no doubt extensive to-do list. Baekhyun, the final member of their small but talented crew follows shortly after, clearly having stumbled here straight after waking up. She looks terrible, worse even than Kyungsoo feels, which is not good. 

“Here,” Kyungsoo pulls out a seat for her, eyebrows knit together in a line, “are you gonna be ok?”

“Yeah.” She replies, sounding like something has been stuck in her throat for twenty years. Kyungsoo isn’t convinced, but she’s probably right. All of them just need a little while to recover. 

“Alright.” Joonmyeon begins, placing her iHolo down in front of her, “there’s a few routine checks we need to do to get things up and running to support life, and those are our priorities for now. Baekhyun, please go and check the main engines- take a drone with you, I don’t want you collapsing on us. Kyungsoo, go make sure the allotment is all in order, please. And Jongdae, help me sort out the controls in here, we need to get all the scanners up and running before we can get down to business. And of course we need to report back home.” She sighs, shaking her head, “actually, I should probably do that first. Unless anyone has any pressing matters, go ahead.” Joonmyeon orders, already making her way across the room to the wall of endless holo screens, swiping some away and drawing up the ones she needs. There’s so  _ many _ . Kyungsoo is not a tech person, so she’s glad she doesn’t have to deal with any of that.

Kyungsoo salutes and wobbles off towards the gardens, via the kitchen. There isn’t much choice, but she makes herself up some Astro Pasta and eats it straight out of the sachet. It tastes about as good as she remembers, which is not that great. She still feels queasy, but it’s manageable now.

She passes through a decontamination chamber- it’s more important that she uses it on the way out, so that they don’t accidentally bring spores into the atmosphere here, but using it on the way in won’t hurt. They have no idea how aggressive earth plants might be, compared to anything here.

The garden is a compact room, designed to utilise every bit of space available. There are shelves of green plants, leaves spilling over the edges of their pots, all on a rotational pulley. These were all automatically planted a few months ago, to give them time to grow so they would be ready when everyone woke up. All that’s needed is a little pruning on some of them. Otherwise, they look fine to Kyungsoo. 

As a botanist, the thing Kyungsoo is most looking forward to is discovering unknown local flora types and studying them in detail. She was picked for this mission because she’s the best in her field: hydro-botany, more specifically marine botany. Plants living in saline water are her speciality, but common garden varieties of tomatoes and potatoes are fine too.

Gliese 1214b has got to be teeming with new life, it  _ has  _ to be. She hums a tune to herself as she works.  _ Is it still a popular song back on earth, or has it been forgotten by now? _ She wonders. It’s strange to be so disconnected to what feels like, to her, just yesterday.

Taking her time, Kyungsoo makes her way through the aisles, rotating the shelves to get to the other plants. Each of the sprouts in a pot will bear several fruit at least, thanks to GM innovations. Some are already growing small green beginnings of fruit, bulbous and hard, but most of them are still at the germination stage. It shouldn’t take too long before they can start eating from these, maybe a few weeks at most. In the meantime they have over a month’s worth of Astro Pasta and other hydratable foods. Granted, they aren’t exactly gourmet, but it will keep them all alive.

Using a pair of small shears, Kyungsoo trims a few leaves off the potatoes, to stop them from overflowing from their pots, and keeps the trimmings to put into the compost bin. Nothing is needlessly wasted on this ship.

The PA sounds and Joonmyeon’s voice echoes throughout the ship.

“Baekhyun? Kyungsoo? You guys might wanna see this.” She sounds odd, like something is going wrong. Worried, Kyungsoo drops her shears and sets off at a brisk pace back to the control room, hardly able to wait for the decontamination process. She bursts into the room, causing both women’s heads to turn her way, surprised.

“What’s wrong?” Kyungsoo asks, breathless.

“It’s not  _ wrong _ exactly, it’s just… look at this.” Jongdae points to one of the many screens. Kyungsoo edges in closer to get a better look. It’s a sonar detection system, green circles expanding from the centre every second and reverberating off whatever is in the surrounding area. But that’s not the interesting part: there are somewhere upwards of forty dots floating around their ship, and more showing up with every beep.It should be more static-y than that, considering the fact that there’s only water here, but each individual dot registers clearly. Joonmyeon rotates the image, showing them just how many there are, surrounding the entire underside of their ship.

“What are they?” Kyungsoo wonders, amazed and a little unnerved. Could the landing have attracted the attention of the local wildlife? What could they be? A type of large fish?

“I don’t know, but I don’t want to open the main hatch until I get the cameras ready. We don’t know if they, whatever they are, are aggressive. We haven’t noticed any sounds that could be them attacking the ship, but who knows?” Joonmyeon says, waiting for the cctv console to load up.

_ She’s right _ , Kyungsoo thinks. They should observe them for a little while first, to be as sure as possible they won’t try to attack. Hopefully whatever they are, they are peaceful creatures. It would be a terrible shame to have to leave here already because of them; they had vowed that if any residents of this planet, should they find any, wanted them to leave then they would. No one wanted a repeat of planet Corot-7b.

A moment later, Baekhyun hobbles in, still looking as bad as earlier. She’s followed by a short squat droid, it’s activation lights blinking.

“What’s going on?” She rasps, settling in a seat as soon as she can. Jongdae gives her the rundown, explaining everything. Baekhyun gapes, but doesn’t get up to inspect the monitor. Kyungsoo doesn’t blame her really. Honestly, she hadn’t expected to be thrown in the deep end this quickly- the fact that these creatures are gathered around the ship like this means they must be smart. Smart, and confident in their abilities to fend predators off, if they turned out to be space invaders. A lesser creature would have run, or  _ swam _ , for their life if a huge metal object crashed into the water.

“This is pretty cool, really. I’d hoped that there would be wildlife.”

“Yeah, me too. We just need to establish that we’re here peacefully. And not disrupt them any more than we already have done.” Kyungsoo agrees. 

“Aha!” Joonmyeon claps, a blurry image of the outside world coming into view on the screen in front of her. Everyone crowds around her, vying to get a good look. The camera takes a second to focus, zooming in and out until the clarity of the image is good: but it’s just water. It looks like any old photo of the ocean at night back on earth.

“Hm.” Joonmyeon drags her hand through the image, and the camera pans to the left much like a larger version of an iPhone. More nothing. “I don’t understand, they’re  _ right there _ . We’re looking right at them.”

“They’re probably  _ under  _ the water.” Jongdae rolls her eyes. “It’s dark, what did you expect?”

“Should I turn the lights on?” Joonmyeon asks, fingers poised over the button that will activate them.

“I don’t know.” Jongdae sighs, obviously having come to the same conclusion as Kyungsoo. Might they take a light as a threat? A sudden flash could be intimidating.

“Don’t we have underwater cameras as well?” Baekhyun asks, “because if not, then that was a major oversight, when we were obviously going to an  _ underwater planet _ .” Joonmyeon sucks her lower lip into her mouth and widens her eyes. Kyungsoo tries not to laugh at their attitude; while Jongdae is the most competitive, which can cause problems, Joonmyeon has always had issues with Baekhyun’s outspokenness. Her sarcasm doesn’t change even when the she feels like death, apparently. 

“Let me just load them up too.” Joonmyeon says, gritting her teeth and pressing the appropriate buttons. Another console bleeps at her and there’s a faint whirring sound somewhere beneath them. A second camera screen flickers to life and displays itself on another holoscreen. At first, there’s not much to see there either, just murky water with dust particles floating in it; but then a watery shadow passes across the foreground.

“What was that?” Jongdae breathes. It looked like a fish, but much bigger than any of them had expected. Some kind of predatory fish? Like a shark, maybe? 

“There it goes again! Can you turn the camera?” Jongdae urges, her fingers clamped tight on Joonmyeon’s shoulder.

“Yes, oh my gosh, give me a  _ chance _ !” Joonmyeon exclaims, “I’m trying!”

“Sorry,” Jongdae retreats bashfully. “Is that it there?”

“I think so. This one seems to be the leader of the pack; it’s the closest one to the ship.”

“Should we be worried?” Baekhyun pipes up, “what if it’s causing damage?”

“Oh, um. I don’t know.” Joonmyeon frowns. “Does anyone want to go out and stop it?”

“Not really.” Baekhyun says, leaning on her folded arms. Jongdae shakes her head quickly, backing out of the situation. Kyungsoo’s stomach sinks; she wants to go out there, sure, but not if there’s potentially dangerous animals lurking out there.

“I need to be up here.” Joonmyeon says, pointing at the controls and looking at Kyungsoo apologetically.

“Alright, fine.” Kyungsoo sighs. “ _ I’ll _ go.”

“There’s our brave volunteer!” Jongdae claps obnoxiously. Kyungsoo glares at her and she sinks back into her seat, but doesn’t stop clapping, albeit quieter now. This was  _ so  _ not what Kyungsoo expected to be doing, less than an hour after she was unplugged.

“You know where the diving equipment is.” Joonmyeon mumbles apologetically, turning back to the console. “I’ll try and get a better look at what these things are while you go get changed.”

Kyungsoo grumbles to herself all the way to the lower door. There are two ways in and out of this ship: since the vessel is designed to be partially submerged, there’s a waterlock at the bottom with a drainage system, and a second one above the buoyancy ring which opens to air.

Kyungsoo wipes her clammy palms on her uniform trousers. What if these space fish are dangerous? And Joonmyeon is sending her out into the dark depths anyway! Without even getting a good look at them first! Sure, she’s the captain and Kyungsoo has to do what she says, but still. Kyungsoo drags the nanoskin wetsuit out of its storage space roughly, slamming the door open.

She should really be more mature about this but, honestly, she’s scared. Just being in this room is making her heart beat a bit faster, knowing that just beyond the reinforced glass door is the outside world. A planet unexplored by humans.

The nanoskin is so thin that it’s difficult to put on, but when it’s on it accommodates itself to the shape of Kyungsoo’s body. It doesn’t hide anything at all and Kyungsoo looks away from the mirror. She shouldn’t care about her dumb body image, especially when she’s about to plunge into a space ocean with potentially ravenous  _ space piranhas _ , but she can’t help it.

“Kyungsoo- don’t forget your earpiece.” Joonmyeon reminds her through the PA system. Kyungsoo rolls her eyes, but rummages through her uniform pocket to find it, inserting it into her ear canal and wincing when all she gets is feedback. “That’s better.” Joonmyeon says, this time directly to her. “Anyway, we’ve caught a few more glimpses, but we’re still no closer to figuring out what these things are. They move  _ fast _ .”

“Alright. I wish we had regular wetsuits, these don’t make me feel protected at all.” She mumbles, taking off her glasses and placing them on the side table.

“That’s because you’re not.” Jongdae chimes in, “They’re designed for temperature regulation and to protect you from getting wrinkly fingers; they aren’t armour.”

“Thanks guys, way to make me feel better.” She grumbles.

“That’s what we’re here for.” Kyungsoo can almost see the annoying feline smirk on the woman’s face. “The breathers are in the cabinet next to you.”

“Are you watching me?!” Was she watching the whole time? Kyungsoo fumes.

“No?” Jongdae doesn’t sound convincing. Kyungsoo looks for the camera and puts up her middle finger. “Charming.” Jongdae comments in her ear.

“Guys, stop it.” Joonmyeon jumps in before they can descend into a verbal brawl. “Kyungsoo, equip your breather and get into the airlock.”

“Ma’am.” Kyungsoo resists the urge to salute. Grabbing her breather, a small device that will provide her with oxygen indefinitely, and placing it in her mouth, she steps into the airlock chamber. 

She hasn’t felt this nervous since her final exam period, back in university. This is worse, though.

The console by the door asks her whether she would like to activate the water exchange. She selects ‘yes’ and shivers as the inner door seals behind her. Mechanical sounds all around her unnerve her, and she shifts awkwardly as water begins to pool on the floor. It rises up past her ankles, her calves, her thighs, her waist. Her hair, still loose because it wasn’t dry from her shower anyway, floats smoothly behind her, like a black cloud. 

It’s cold, as cold as the sea back on earth. Maybe even  _ colder _ , since most of the sunlight is blocked out by the thick layer of clouds that cloak the planet. She takes a few breaths through the breather, wrinkling her nose at the chemical, plastic-y taste it gives the air to get used to it.

Once the water level reaches the ceiling, the outer door goes  _ ker-chunk _ and slowly slides down. Kyungsoo braces herself, then starts to swim outside. It’s dark, and she can barely see anything. Even with her glasses she would probably be clueless. It’s eerie out here, strange sounds echoing from far off in the distance. A high pitched chatter, like a dolphin, followed by a lower, more drawn out sound. She shivers, goosebumps breaking out underneath her nanoskin.

“Can you see anything?” Joonmyeon asks, “the one by the camera scarpered as soon as the door started to open.”

With the breather in her mouth, Kyungsoo can’t reply. She squints into the distance, trying to find the source of her problems. She swims towards the camera, and looks around. She isn’t sure if it’s because the water is so opaque, or the low levels of light, but there’s no sign of any creatures nearby anymore. Maybe she scared them off? Swimming underneath the belly of the ship, she begins to relax, inspecting the hull calmly. There isn’t really any sign of damage, so they don’t have to worry about that at least. There’s a few scratches but they could just as easily be from entry into the atmosphere, rather than a vicious attack.

The camera next to her whirrs.

Jongdae’s voice suddenly buzzes in her ear.

“There’s one right behind you. Don’t move.” Kyungsoo stills, blood running cold. “Holy  _ fuck _ !” Jongdae gasps. That doesn’t inspire confidence. What could it be? One of the creatures? Is it dangerous? It can’t be good, that’s for sure. 

Why in hell did she agree to this? If she hadn’t come on this trip she would probably be in her forties, teaching marine botany at her old university and settling into her early middle age, maybe with a family. Oh God, she's going to die here in space, and her family won't know for another few years at least. This is it. This is the end.

“I’m recording.” Joonmyeon whispers, “Kyungsoo, you should take a look.”

Crying inwardly, Kyungsoo counts to three, and slowly turns around. 

It’s big, that’s the first thing she registers. Bigger than she’d expected, bigger than  _ she  _ is for sure, albeit not by that much. The second thing she thinks is  _ mermaid _ because that’s what this creature looks like. Pale brown, leathery skin, thick black hair on it’s scalp, and a tail that starts around where a human’s waist would be. It’s- their? Kyungsoo can’t tell its sex, if it even has one- hands have four fingers, with a thin webbing between them. Just like a dolphin, it has a dorsal fin protruding from its back, though it’s translucent, and it has flukes at the end of its tail too. 

Its  _ eyes _ , though, the eyes are so intense and intelligent it makes Kyungsoo’s heart stop. Kyungsoo focuses on her breathing, staring into this creature’s oddly human face and making as little movement as possible.

The creature, or mermaid, reaches out one long arm towards her. 

Immobilised by fear, Kyungsoo lets it. The creature’s fingers ever so delicately touch Kyungsoo’s neck. Mind filled with colourful scenarios of her throat being torn out, or decapitation, Kyungsoo closes her eyes tight, waiting for the inevitable end. She whimpers.

The gentle touch vanishes, and when Kyungsoo opens her eyes, the mermaid is gone.

“Wow.” Jongdae breathes in her ear, echoing Kyungsoo’s sentiment. Kyungsoo’s legs and arms have turned to jelly. She  _ survived _ .

“So, unless that was an anomaly, we can now say with approximately 70% accuracy that the natives are non-violent. This is good.” Joonmyeon is quick to ruin the moment, ordering Kyungsoo back inside.

 

-

 

The moment the pressure chamber is completely drained of water, Jongdae bursts into the small room with a towel, wrapping it around Kyungsoo's shivering shoulders and leading her into the changing room. She feels a little faint.

“C’mon, you can change later, unless you  _ want  _ to do it now?” Jongdae urges, ushering her along, presumably back up to the control room where the others will be waiting. Kyungsoo's entire body is shaking, both from the cold and from the shock. She's still alive, that's a good thing, but she feels like getting dressed back into her uniform will give her another moment to come back to herself, so, stuttering, she tells Jongdae that.

“I-I w-wanna get dressed.” 

“Okay, shall I wait for you outside?” Jongdae asks, surprisingly nice. Maybe she's feeling like she has to be nice after her near death experience.

“Yes please.” Kyungsoo stammers. Jongdae nods and leaves Kyungsoo to get dressed.

“Call me if you need anything.”

“Ok.” Kyungsoo agrees, not knowing why she might need her help but knowing that it will get rid of her faster. The door closes behind her, leaving Kyungsoo alone with her thoughts once again.

There are mermaids on this planet. She met one, and it didn't kill her. She can still see it's pale eyes, like two moonstones, staring into her soul.

With fumbling fingers, she peels off her nanoskin wetsuit and lets it drop in a wet heap in the ground before shrugging on her uniform. She finishes the look with the towel wrapped around her hair, and slips her glasses back on.

When she leaves the room, Jongdae is waiting just outside as promised. They walk back to the control room in near silence, broken only when Jongdae asks if she's doing OK, to which Kyungsoo replies ‘I'll be fine’. She will be, when she's had a hot drink. If there are any to be found in this ship. 

Joonmyeon and Baekhyun are crowded around the monitor when they enter the control room, but they look up to welcome them inside.

“Look who it is.” Baekhyun croaks, “I can't believe you got to see one of those things up close.”

“She had her eyes shut for most of it” Jongdae remarks, pulling out seats for them both and dragging them closer to the screens. Even Joonmyeon lets out a laugh at that.

“Like you would have been any better.” Kyungsoo gripes, scooting forwards on her chair. “What's so interesting on here.” She asks, referring to the monitor in front of them. The captain touches the screen, and the media begins to play, the sounds of underwater loud in the small room. Within seconds, Kyungsoo recognises it to be a video feed of what just happened. There she is, coming into view, turning her head to try and see something. Although it doesn't show up in the recording, she can tell when she being spoken to through her earpiece by her reactions. She holds her breath, waiting for the moment the mermaid will appear. It swims closer to her, eerily graceful in its movements, ghostly against the blackness of the water. Once again, the word  _ beautiful  _ comes to mind. Watching the moment from a different viewpoint makes it seem smaller than it felt in the moment, and she's a little embarrassed by how much of a wimp she is in the face of the unknown. 

The mermaid's expression is unreadable it runs it's finger against Kyungsoo's bare skin. It tilts it's head, hair following the movement and curling in the tendrils of water.

“Did you wet yourself there? No one would know anyway.” Baekhyun teases. The mermaid turns tail and swims away, fast enough that if Kyungsoo had blinked, she would've missed it.

“I did not.” Kyungsoo snaps, glaring in her crew mate’s direction. Baekhyun laughs.

“Seriously though, you seem pretty shaken up. Are you alright?” 

“I'm fine.” Kyungsoo reassures them all, “all it did was touch me, I'm not hurt. I… I think it was just curious.”

“I think so too.” Jongdae pipes up. She would know best, after all: she's their marine biologist, and is well studied in the natures of wild animals. “I can't believe we've got this lucky. We've really hit the jackpot.” Jongdae enthuses, flopping back in her seat. Of course she would be excited with a whole new species to study. 

“They seem intelligent, do you think they could be a class four species?” Baekhyun wonders.

“Or even class five.” Jongdae gasps, throwing her hands up in the air in excitement. “See that around it's neck? It seems to have woven some kind of underwater plant into a garment of some sort.”

“So there's got to be plants, right?” Kyungsoo perks up at the thought of her abilities being put to good use. She looks closer at the garment in question, and it seems like an underwater grass, pale enough to grow at the very bottom of the ocean.

“Oh, definitely.” She moans, dragging her hands down her face, “then there's the possibility of their own agricultural system, or construction, or  _ economy _ -”

“Don't you think you're getting a bit ahead of yourself?” Baekhyun cuts in, one eyebrow raised. Jongdae side eyes her,

“I'm sure there's some dirt for you to study as well, don't worry.”

“Alright, alright.” Joonmyeon stops them before they can start bickering. “We're all exhausted and over excited. We've done all the standard checks so I think it's time for us to take a break. We should go back to sleep for a bit or go to the recreation room.” Joonmyeon advises. It's true; now that the adrenaline is wearing off, Kyungsoo is feeling drained. Maybe a rest would do her good. Feeling tired after just waking up from neostasis is normal anyway, so she might as well just go sleep for a while.

“What about you?” Kyungsoo asks, concerned for their captain's well-being. Even back in training she had a habit of taking on a little too much at once, always in an effort to take care of her team. 

“Someone has to stay awake. I'll be fine. I can sleep once one of you guys wake up.” She adds, when Kyungsoo stares her down. 

“Alright. Try not to overwork yourself, you've only just woken up as well.” 

“I won't.” Joonmyeon promises, smiling a little under the attention and tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. “Have a nice rest now.” She says, “if you're not back up here in a couple of hours I'll send a drone to get you.” She directs the last part to all of them, lips pursed sternly.

“Yes ma'am.” Jongdae jokes, standing up. Baekhyun follows soon after, saluting. Kyungsoo is the last to leave her, not wanting her to be by herself. Joonmyeon puts on some music, and starts humming to herself as she scrolls through lists of numbers that mean very little to Kyungsoo, and that's when she knows she'll be fine for a few hours. If worse comes to worst, she can strike up a conversation with the AI system.

She slips out of the room halfway through a slow ballad that the other woman is belting out, just slightly off pitch, and heads back to her room. 

Changing back into her sleepwear and falling into her bed feels like heaven is taking her in and she falls asleep within minutes.


	2. Log 002

Three days into the mission finds Kyungsoo watching the recording of her meeting the mermaid for perhaps the hundredth time. Now that the ship is running smoothly, and the plants growing well, it’s fine for Kyungsoo to be taking a break like this. 

Later today, or the time that they’ve decided to call day, considering that this planet runs on a different time schedule than that of their home, they are planning to make a trip down to the bottom of the ocean, to collect samples for further study. All they’ve been able to gather up to this point is information from various scans, which show the depth of the water and the topography, revealing that they’ve managed to land on one of the shallower areas of the planet, with the seafloor at only six thousand meters.

They have also done scans of heat signatures of any animals that roam nearby. All of the readings are of smaller animals, not big enough to be the same as the creatures they encountered when they first woke up, which Jongdae in particular has found disappointing, but smaller marine life is interesting too. She’s going to bring with her a camera, to take photos of anything that she finds, using a special type of setting that traces the slightest hints of light. Like Kyungsoo, Baekhyun is bringing a selection of test tubes, but hers are to gather earth and rock samples in, rather than plantlife.

In maybe an hour or so, Joonmyeon will call all the crew members through to the water lock, and they’ll suit up in their pressure suits so they can travel to the darkest depths of the ocean. Joonmyeon will wield a stun gun, just in case anything tries to attack them, so they can make a quick getaway. In the meantime, Kyungsoo will keep replaying the same video of the mermaid creature over and over, zooming in on different sections each time.

The quality of the camera isn’t the best to begin with, and the interference of the water leads for some blurry images, but Kyungsoo has still managed to memorise the mermaid’s face. She can now say with reasonable certainty that the creature is indeed female- Jongdae thinks so at least, and she’s the specialist- so she’s started to refer to her as such in her head. 

Her form is elegant, long curves and flowing lines; made for speed, maybe, more than strength. It would explain why she was able to escape so fast. Her long black hair reminds Kyungsoo of her own, the way it flows out behind her, moving as she does. It’s pretty.

One of the things that had surprised her the most, though, was her face- to begin with, she hadn’t expected any kind of alien life on this planet to look even remotely humanoid, let alone have such strong, regal facial features. It’s almost scary how similar she looks to a human, and it makes Kyungsoo think of all those ancient conspiracy theories from centuries ago, which suggested that aliens came to earth and left some of their kind there. It’s all just silly superstition but this creature is eerily similar.

She doesn’t realise just how much time has passed until the sound of the PA goes, and Joonmyeon’s soft voice is echoing through her room and inviting everyone to  _ come to the waterlock now, please _ . Startled, Kyungsoo shuts down her iHolo and sets it down on her bed, grabbing her earpiece and making her way there quickly, stopping off to pick up some sample tubes on the way. 

 

Jongdae and Baekhyun are already waiting when she arrives, wearing their nanoskin suits. Kyungsoo hurries to get ready while the other three patiently look away.

“You guys all know the brief, but I want to run through it again anyway.” Joonmyeon says, scrolling through her iHolo before they enter the water lock. “We're going down for a maximum of three hours, after that time has passed, we will resurface regardless of the success of the mission.”

“Yes, Ma’am.” Kyungsoo nods in unison with the other three women on board. Kyungsoo tugs the last part of the nanoskin in place, adjusting it till it fits nicely on her body. Over the top of the nanoskin, she pulls on some heavier duty armour that will prevent her from being crushed at deeper levels. Finally, she picks out a belt, and inserts all the test tubes into the slots on it. 

“Good.” Joonmyeon clears her throat, waiting until Kyungsoo is ready. “Good. Right, let’s get on with it then.” 

As a unit, they step into the waterlock, and Baekhyun activates the system, closing the door behind them. Joonymeon slips her helmet over her head, indicating for everyone else to do the same- from now on, they will all be communicating through radio.

This space is less scary with the others in it, and she’s far more ready to face what’s out there when she’s not alone, but a spiral of anxiety twists in her stomach anyway. She had only been out there for a few minutes last time; none of them truly have any idea what’s out there. It could be very dangerous.

And then there’s the risk of leaving their ship unattended; if something attacks it while they’re gone, or somehow moves it, then they could very well perish. They will need the food and supplies they have on board, not least the shelter from the elements.

Water begins to fill the room, but this time her hair is tied up in a tight bun at the back of her head, so it fits underneath the helmet. Jongdae looks a little nervous about all the clunking and whirring noises around them, and Baekhyun nudges her as an act of reassurance. Kyungsoo catches her eye, reminding her that they’re all in this together.

A final  _ clunk _ means that the pressure is equal, and the outer door begins to open, a juddering sound that goes straight to Kyungsoo’s stomach. The outside world is just as vast as Kyungsoo recalls, and just as seemingly empty. Nobody moves for a few beats.

Kyungsoo is the first to leave the waterlock, pushing off from the floor and gliding forwards, arms stretched out in front of her. She is followed swiftly by the rest of her team, and she allows Joonmyeon to take the lead from there onwards. Their leader counts down from five on her fingers, her other hand held over her chest. On one, everyone activates the weight system that will pull them down to the ocean floor. 

The only way of measuring how far they’re sinking, besides the device in Joonmyeon’s hands, is the ship floating on the surface. They descent continues until the ship disappears from view, and the light vanishes from their surroundings. Faintly luminescent stripes all over their armour lets Kyungsoo’s know the positions of her teammates. The gloves and the insides of their helmets glow as well, so they can communicate more efficiently. 

The only noises Kyungsoo can hear is the whirring of her breather, as the base of her helmet, and the eerie noises of the ocean.

Jongdae breaks the silence, her voice sounding fuzzy through the transmission. “I have an idea; how about a game?”

“A game?” Joonmyeon does not sound impressed.

“Yeah! Here, I’ll start: I spy, with my littl-”

“Jongdae.” Joonmyeon cuts her off, her tone exasperated. 

“What?” Jongdae shrugs. “I’m just trying to lighten the mood. It feels like we’re going to a funeral.”

“We’re just trying to concentrate on the mission.” 

“Right. Do you think we’ll find anything interesting?” Jongdae asks, sounding nervous all of a sudden. Kyungsoo purses her lips. She really doesn’t know- there could be anything down there! Rich civilisations, thriving with the people that they saw before. Ancient, seafloor coral reefs, burgeoning with plantlife. 

Or they could find nothing at all.

“I think whatever we find down here, it will be worth it.” Joonmyeon says diplomatically. Kyungsoo smirks to herself- if they find so much as deep sea algae, she will be satisfied. And she knows Baekhyun will be happy with just a few samples of soil deposits. It’s really just Jongdae that could end up disappointed. 

They’re quiet for a long time, watching the unchanging scenery filter by, the waters becoming closer and closer to opaque the longer they fall. It gets warmer as they get closer to the magma core of the planet. 

Kyungsoo can’t be certain that the sounds she’s hearing aren’t just rebounding from their ship, but sometimes she’ll hear a low creaking moan, or a ghostly wail so faint she’s not certain that she isn’t imagining it. A shiver spreads through her body, tingling in her fingertips. Could something big be out there? Bigger than the mermaids? 

Kyungsoo takes a long, shuddering breath, stomach tied in knots. 

“What’s the distance?” Baekhyun asks. It feels like they’ve been travelling forever, and the initial thrill is starting to fade just a little. 

“We’re almost there actually, just another couple of hundred metres to go.”

“Really? That’s odd; I can’t  _ see _ anything down there?”

“Of course you can’t, it’s pitch black.” Kyungsoo can hear her rolling her eyes.

“The scanners are picking up some movement. A few small heat signatures, too.”

“Ooh!” Jongdae perks up, leaning in a bit closer to see the screen. “We could have fish on our hands, people!” She raises an arm, and whoops.

“Bottom feeders, how exciting.” Baekhyun deadpans. Kyungsoo snorts at the face she makes, emphasised by the unusual lighting inside the helmet.

“Shut up.” Jongdae jabs back, pouting. “My bottom feeders will eat ur soggy dirt for breakfast.”

“At least I can study mine in a lab.”

“You say that like its a drawback to have to do fieldwork.” Jongdae wrinkles her nose. “I thought you’d be excited to get your hands dirty.”

“I  _ am! _ ” Baekhyun exclaims. “I-”

“That’s enough guys, we need to brace for landing.” Joonymeon cuts off their usual bickering, instructing them all to reduce their weight and slow down their descent. 

Kyungsoo really feels like a space explorer when they hit the ground; like Neil Armstrong, she makes her steps a little exaggerated, although it’s not hard, because of the water resistance. She resists the urge to say ‘this is one small step for woman, and one giant step for womankind!’. The ground is soft, layers of silt and sediment that Baekhyun doesn’t hesitate to scoop up. 

There isn’t much to see, even with the lights on their chest pieces illuminating their surroundings. Kyungsoo pouts, not seeing any plants. She’ll take samples of the water down here anyway, in hopes of finding bacteria she and Jongdae can study.

Joonmyeon stashes her scanner away for now, and pulls out the gun from the holster. “The scanner showed red in that direction, so we’ll find something if we go that way, probably.” She says pointing behind Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo turns around, pointing her torch that way, but there’s still nothing to see. She shakes her head- whatever is down here will probably be colourless and camouflaged, to avoid getting caught by prey, so she’ll need to concentrate.

“Alright, let’s get going then.” Jongdae poses dramatically, following Joonmyeon’s lead when she starts walking ahead.

The trek is tedious, but it’s better than the journey down here- at least this time they’re actually moving. Kyungsoo makes sure to look carefully before each step she takes, not wanting to accidentally crush anything that might be of interest to them. Their low-level lighting shows that there’s not much on the floor, in this area at least, which is odd. Kyungsoo would have assumed that if there was any flora, it would be in the shallowest areas, but maybe she shouldn’t be thinking with earth rules.

“Where are these fish, huh?” Jongdae complains, swinging the beam from her flashlight from side to side. It casts a dim glow, but doesn’t allow them to see anything other than open water. “Fishies? Where are youuuu?” She sings into the eery silence.

“I don’t think that’s going to make them want to come to us.” Kyungsoo says, her lip quirking up. 

“If these gloves weren’t so bulky, rest assured, I would be making a  _ very  _ rude gesture right now.” Jongdae says, pointing at Kyungsoo as much as the gloves will allow her to.

“I guess I’ll just have to picture it in my imagination.” Kyungsoo laughs.

“If you don’t want me to write you up for inappropriate conduct, I’d advise you to stop talking.” Joonmyeon warns, playfully.

“Yes, boss.” Jongdae salutes, sniggering quietly.

They carry on walking, making slow progress and arguing occasionally. There’s very little progress to be made; it seems like nothing is alive down here. Maybe the loud noises of their suit’s breathers scared away any lifeforms that were down here? Either way, if they don’t find something soon, they’ll have to turn back empty handed. They have water samples, and Baekhyun has dirt samples, so that’s better than nothing.

“Did you guys hear that?” Jongdae asks, nervous all of a sudden. Kyungsoo shrugs; she didn’t hear anything out of the ordinary.

“Hear what?” Joonmyeon asks, turning around to see. There’s nothing there. 

“I thought I heard… something.” 

“Do you want me to get the scanner out again?” Joonmyeon asks, already doing just that, “better safe than sorry, huh? We can always head up early.”

“Yeah.” Jongdae nods, sending a flurry of tiny bubbles to the surface with the movement. Joonmyeon holsters the gun, and pulls out the scanner instead, booting it up. It blinks as it powers on.

“Oh.” Joonmyeon gasps, her eyes wide and unnatural-looking in the odd lighting of her helmet. The others crowd around her, peering over her shoulders to see. Four large dots are in the centre of the radar- that’s them. But then, outside of that, are another ten, or maybe more, dots. 

They aren’t alone.

“Wow.” Baekhyun breathes, angling her head up so she can look around. Kyungsoo does the same, but she can’t see anything in the inky blackness, even when she shines her flashlight around. They’re smart enough to stay out of reach of their lights, which is unnerving. But, she reasons, if they wanted to hurt them, they probably would have done it by now. Just like that one mermaid that she met by the ship, Kyungsoo gets the impression that they’re more curious than anything. 

“What do we do?” Baekhyun asks, voice faltering. 

“Nothing.” Jongdae shrugs. “Not really anything we  _ can _ do. They aren’t bothering us, and I don’t think it would be wise to try and get closer to them. They might take it as a threat.”

“So you’re saying we should just carry on with what we were doing?” Joonmyeon clarifies. Jongdae hums in agreement. “Ok, then. Let’s just… keep walking, I guess.”

“Ok.” Kyungsoo agrees, hoping that the mermaids don’t have super-hearing, and can’t hear how fast her heart is racing. "On we go then.” 

They carry on walking, just as slowly as they had been before. This time, if she concentrates, Kyungsoo can hear the noises Jongdae mentioned earlier. She feels like an idiot for not noticing them before, since it’s similar noises to what she heard the first time she entered the water. Dolphin-like chatter, and lower, almost moaning sounds. She shivers, wondering if either party will gather the courage to make a move, and initiate contact. The back of her neck prickles. At her feet, there is still nothing of note, so she can’t even occupy herself with examining anything. She hears someone’s sharp intake of breath through the radio, and makes a concerted effort not to react. What’s happening? Did one of them make themself visible? 

“Don’t look now, but there’s one right behind you, Kyungsoo.” Baekhyun says softly. Oh god, it’s like the first time all over again. Kyungsoo counts to five before she turns her head, slowly and cautiously, coming face to face with another mermaid. This one is not the same one as last time, Kyungsoo can tell because of how long she spent staring at her face, but they look similar; the same pale eyes, and long hair. Those might just be characteristics of all these creatures, Kyungsoo reasons, it doesn’t mean that they’re related.

Kyungsoo stops walking, caught like a deer in the headlights, pinned down by the intensity of the mermaid’s gaze. Does she have pupils? Kyungsoo doesn’t know much about biology; she’ll have to ask Jongdae later. 

Out of the corner of her eye, Kyungsoo sees Jongdae raising her camera, then hears the subtle click of her taking a photograph. The mermaid turns suddenly, honing in on Jongdae lightning fast. Jongdae squeaks, managing to get one more photo in before the mermaid is reaching for her camera. Her long fingered hand hovers above it, as if asking for permission, but Jongdae’s hands only tighten around the device.

“Let her.” Joonmyeon instructs, when it looks like Jongdae isn’t going to give it up. Reluctantly, Jongdae hands it over, letting the mermaid scrutinise it. She, Kyungsoo is pretty sure that this one is female as well, lets out a series of sounds that Kyungsoo wouldn’t be able to reproduce in her wildest dreams. She turns the camera around in her hands, viewing it from every angle. Her preoccupation lets Kyungsoo get her first good look at her; she’s darker than Kyungsoo’s mermaid,and her tail appears to be longer, from what Kyungsoo can remember. Her hair, on the other hand, is much, much shorter, only reaching her shoulders. It’s a uniform length, so Kyungsoo can only assume it’s a style choice. Jongdae is going to be excited about that, and also the sting of woven plant life around her neck. More evidence that they are level five life forms.

The mermaid finds the button, and presses it. It captures a picture of Jongdae’s feet. Jongdae seems to bristle at this, but it’s not like she’s using up much digital space, the storage on that thing is massive. After a few more experiments, and checking the digital viewfinder, the mermaid catches on, and soon she is taking photos of everyone, chattering loudly. Kyungsoo can’t tell for sure, but she seems pleased with this development.

“What is going on right now.” Baekhyun mumbles, awed. Kyungsoo nods along with her, unable to fathom their luck. 

Another mermaid emerges from the darkness, seeming to pose for the first as she takes a photo, then turns the device around to show them. Soon, more and more mermaids are showing their faces, posing for photos and chattering amongst themselves. Jongdae looks like she wants to cry, although out of happiness, or anxiety over her camera, Kyungsoo isn’t sure. Maybe it’s both. At least they’re going to have a lot of photographic evidence, when they go back up. Hopefully at least some of them are in focus.

“How many of them are there?” Joonmyeon asks suddenly. Kyungsoo tries to count them, but Baekhyun beats her to it.

“There’s fourteen.”

“Wow. I wonder if this is all of them, or if there’s more.”

“There has to be more.” Jongdae says with conviction, “this can’t be all of them. I mean, look! They clearly have some kind of thriving society, somewhere. There wouldn’t be only fourteen members.”

“And there were more by the ship, that time, anyway.” Baekhyun chimes in. Joonmyeon hums softly. “And they all seem to be female, do you think there are males?”

“Probably? I’m not sure yet, there are some species of animals on earth that reproduce by cloning themselves, so there may well not be. They might just be rare.” Jongdae says. “It’s anyone’s guess, really.”

“Hopefully we’ll be able to find out more soon.” Joonmyeon acknowledges, “we don’t have a great deal of time left down here, so we’ll have to come down here again.”

“Yeah,” Baekhyun nods. They talk like they weren’t going to come back anyway.

“I wonder where that one mermaid is?” Kyungsoo says, more to herself than anyone. She doesn’t see her anywhere.

“Why, were you hoping to see her again?” Baekhyun teases, acting like this mermaid was someone she had a crush on. Kyungsoo rolls her eyes.

“Yes, actually. I wanted to know if she would recognise me.”

“That would be cool, actually.” Baekhyun concedes, “do you think we’ll be able to communicate with them? They seem intelligent enough to me.”

“I’m trying to see if I can pick out any recurring sounds” Joonmyeon says, her eyebrows casting shadows over her face, “but I’m no linguist, and I don’t think I’d be able to differentiate between these sounds no matter how long I studied them, our ears probably aren’t equipped to deal with them.” She continues to mumble about the details but Kyungsoo tunes her out, turning instead towards the crowd of mermaids. 

Is that…? 

It is! Kyungsoo would recognise her anywhere. Her mermaid has arrived late, and bypassing her kind, she swims straight to the humans, peering into their helmets. She starts with Baekhyun, her spindly hands placed against the reinforced glass delicately. Next, she looks into Jongdae’s, leaning in close enough that Jongdae lets out a wobbly gasp. She doesn’t find what she’s looking for- is she looking for Kyungsoo? Her knees are weak as she approaches. This time, when she looks inside Kyungsoo's helmet, she releases a high pitched chatter that has all the other mermaids turning her way. Kyungsoo startles, stumbling back a step. Her mermaid stops her, hands on the bubble of her helmet, not letting her go anywhere. Suddenly Kyungsoo is afraid again.

“Hold.” Joonmyeon’s voice comes through the radio- is it directed at her? What else can she do but hold on? She whimpers as the mermaid leans in even closer. Her fingers creep over her helmet, and she looks so focused, so intent on whatever it is she’s doing, Kyungsoo can barely breathe. Suddenly, her fingers hook underneath the edge of her helmet, trying to pry it from her shoulders. Kyungsoo cries out, her gloved hands clamping down over the mermaid’s to stop her from  _ killing  _ her.

“Kyungsoo!” Jongdae shouts, stepping closer to help somehow. Another mermaid grabs hold of her mermaid, tugging her away from Kyungsoo, vocalising loudly. She gestures to Kyungsoo, then runs a finger along the necklace she’s wearing, and the human gets the distinct impression that she’s  _ scolding  _ her. How surreal.

An arm falls across her shoulders, 

“Are you ok?” Joonmyeon asks, looking at the join of her suit. “Your suit looks fine at least.”

“I’m alright.” Kyungsoo reassures her, gulping loudly. She tries to keep her breathing steady until she believes it herself. That’s two close encounters with the same creature.

Kyungsoo doesn’t quite catch everything that happens next; but somehow Jongdae ends up with her camera back, and the mermaids all vanish, faster than Kyungsoo can blink.

“What the fuck.” Jongdae says, reeling. Kyungsoo can’t even speak.

“Well, that was exciting, but I think it’s time we went back to the ship, don’t you?” Joonmyeon says, breathless. Everyone nods. Joonmyeon begins to count down, holding the switch on her chest that will activate the buoyancy aids.

 

It takes shockingly little time for Jongdae to recover from all the excitement, and she begins flicking through all the photos of the mermaids, of which there are over a hundred. They’d really had a lot of fun- they’d even taken selfies! Jongdae gushes over them, and complains that she can’t zoom in yet because of her gloves. Joonmyeon hums and asks questions at appropriate times, but Baekhyun is surprisingly silent during the whole thing, which is concerning.

Jongdae’s still happily chattering away when they finally reach surface, entering the ship through the submerged entrance. The only time Jongdae  _ stops _ talking is to take off her helmet, and only for a moment. 

Baekhyun quickly excuses herself to shower, and Kyungsoo frowns, making a mental note to ask her what’s wrong later.

“Oh, Kyungsoo look!” Jongdae shoves the camera in her face, showing a highly zoomed in image of her expression when her mermaid tried to remove her helmet. She looks comically terrified.

“Jongdae, this is serious.” She tries to take the camera away, but Jongdae isn’t having any of it.

“Oh, don’t be a killjoy; it’s funny.”

“I almost  _ died.” _ Kyungsoo reminds her sternly, shaking out her hair from it’s bun. She’s sweaty and gross as well; Baekhyun had the right idea heading to the showers.

"Yeah." Jongdae grimaces, as if that was just an unfortunate side effect, "but I don't think she was  _ trying _ to kill you. From my perspective at least, it looked like she was trying to help."

"You're saying she thought I was trapped in my suit?" Kyungsoo raises her eyebrow. She looks to the captain for backup. Joonmyeon shrugs as she peels the nanosuit off her feet. She doesn't bother to pick it up and turn it the right way around, instead kicking it off to the side. Both of them have no shame in stripping off in front of whoever but Kyungsoo would rather have a bit more privacy.

"Well. Yeah? She didn't  _ look  _ murderous, is what I'm trying to say." Jongdae insists, pulling on her uniform shirt.

"And you would know what murderous looks like on them, would you?" Kyungsoo teases, already having given way to her point. She doesn't want to think of her mermaid as murderous, anyway.

"Kyungsoo." Jongdae shakes her head, smiling ruefully. "It's interesting, though, that she only tried it with you."

"I guess. She must have recognised me." Kyungsoo says, pleased. Her expression had been one of concentration- or at least, that's how she read it. Just remembering sends a strange shiver through her.

"Even with the weird lighting and your hair tied up." Joonmyeon nods. "I look forward to learning more about them." Kyungsoo pulls a funny face at her, and grabs her samples.

"I don't know about you, but I need to have a shower."

"I'll take those." Jongdae offers. "I'll shower afterwards." Kyungsoo wrinkles her nose, taking in Jongdae's dishevelled hair and rosy cheeks, but relents.

"Thanks. I think I'll try and corner Baekhyun as well, she seemed a bit out of it." She says, picking up her uniform and heading out of the hangar. The walk to the shower room isn't a long one; it's situated nicely between the sleeping quarters and the water lock. When designing the ship specifically for this mission, they must have thought carefully about where to put everything.

She hums to herself, putting her uniform to the side just before entering, and picking up her towel instead- hers is the green one. She can hear a shower running, which must mean Baekhyun is already in there. She pushes the door open, and leans inside, wondering if she should wait until Baekhyun leaves. Just as that thought passes through her mind, Baekhyun's shower shuts off and she emerges, wrapping her white towel around her.

"Baekhyun, can I talk to you?"

She suddenly spots Kyungsoo and yelps, pulling the shower curtain back across herself as a reflex.

"Kyungsoo?! What do you want?” One hand sticks out between the gap, like she’s about to karate chop her from across the room. “I am naked and afraid, can’t it wait?"

"I just wanted to ask if everything is ok?" Kyungsoo steps fully inside the shower room, blocking off Baekhyun's exit. It's mean of her, sure, but Baekhyun is the type to bottle things up if she doesn't force it out of her.

"Everything was fine until you decided to attack me!" She says, letting go of the shower curtain and stepping out grumpily. "It's nothing anyway."

"What's nothing?" Kyungsoo pushes, closing the door behind her and leaning against the bit of the wall which has the button to open it again. Baekhyun rolls her eyes dramatically and tucks her wet hair behind her ear. She's blushing?

"Baekhyun, if something is bothering you, I want to know. So I can help."

"It's stupid." She warns, as if that will make a difference. Kyungsoo makes a gesture, telling her to 'go on'.

"Ugh. I was just thinking that there's less point to me being here than the rest of you guys. I don't know anything about extra-terrestrial biology, and we have a  _ huge _ discovery there." Baekhyun confesses. Kyungsoo frowns.

"Is this because of Jongdae? I'll have a word with her later. Baekhyun, even if all you find is that the earth here is similar to that of earth, that's still important information! People want to know this stuff."

"I know, I know." Baekhyun sighs, "I know it's not rational, and I'll get over it.  Who knows, maybe I'll make an amazing discovery- the chemical make-up of the molten core is an element or compound that's incredibly rare or something."

"Maybe!" Kyungsoo smiles, "but really, ignore Jongdae. I don't think she realises how mean she comes across sometimes, I'll tell her to reign it in a bit."

"Thanks." Baekhyun sends her a wobbly smile. "Can I please be allowed to leave, now?"

"Oh!" Kyungsoo laughs, stepping aside, "sure!"

"I'll see you in the lab." Baekhyun calls out over her shoulder, pulling out her hairbrush from a drawer beneath the mirror.

"I'll join you later, then!" Kyungsoo calls back, heading into one of the shower cubicles and finally peeling off her nanoskin.

 

Everyone else is already in the lab when Kyungsoo arrives. Jongdae and Joonmyeon still haven't showered, but they don't look like being sweaty bothers them in the slightest: they're so focused on whatever they're looking at, everything else is unimportant. On closer inspection, she realises that they're examining some of the less fuzzy photos from earlier. Baekhyun is also focused intently on a sample in a petri-dish, switching between a few under the viewfinder of her microscope. The image shows up on a holo-screen to the side, and Kyungsoo steps closer to have a look. It doesn't mean an awful lot to her, but Baekhyun is thoroughly invested, so it must be impressive.

"Found anything yet?" Kyungsoo asks, leaning over her shoulder to look at her notes. She has two bullet points.

"I've literally just started." Baekhyun deadpans, halting her work to give Kyungsoo a scathing but amused look. "I left your samples over there, by the way." She points towards the counter, where a bunch of test tubes full of cloudy water are waiting for her.

Right then, she thinks, cracking her knuckles, time to get down to business. She snatches up one of the test tubes and, using a syringe, extracts some of the water and decants it into a petri-dish like the ones Baekhyun is using.

While she examines the contents, full of bits of dirt and other unknown particles, she half listens to what Jongdae and Joonmyeon are discussing.

"There, zoom in there." Jongdae prompts, "are you really telling me that you don't think those are gills?"

"What I _said,_ was to not to jump to conclusions. Just mark it down as 'unclear'."

"What else could it  _ be _ though?" She asks, frustrated. Kyungsoo bites her lip, navigating around the magnified image of the petri- dish on her holo-screen.

"I don't know. I just want to be more sure before we send back data that we're calling decisive. I know you're excited, but we need to analyse this a bit more. And get better pictures, or something."

"Ok, fine." Jongdae sighs, "you're right, of course. Hmm, maybe Kyungsoo could get her mermaid to pose for us?" She says turning around to poke fun at Kyungsoo, who tries her best not to react to her being referred to as hers.

"And how do you propose I do that?" Kyungsoo

"I don't know. Next time she pops up, just see if you can hold her in one place? She seems like she would probably do that for you at least."

"I guess I could try?" Kyungsoo shrugs. "I have no idea how to communicate with any of them."

"That would be awesome." Jongdae sends some cheesy finger guns her way, before turning back to her photos, and leaving Kyungsoo to get on with her own work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi there im back again with another round of mermaids
> 
> i have no idea when the next chapter will be it might be months: as i think i mentioned before im coming very close to my deadlines for my final year exhibition (where industry ppl are going to come look at my work??? holy shit??) so yeah im unlikely to update anything before like........june :(
> 
> lemme know what u think of this chapter tho! 
> 
> u can find my twitter @celerydragon and my curiouscat is the same name


	3. Log 003

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which kyungsoo meets more mermaids

Kyungsoo is in the garden, admiring the progress of the potatoes, when Joonmyeon's voice sounds over the PA again.

"I've got some large blips showing up on radar again, I think our mermaids might be back." She announces. Kyungsoo does her best to stay calm and finish checking everything over here, before hastily decontaminating and walking briskly towards the control room.

Kyungsoo is surprised that she’s the first to arrive, though the others should be here shortly.

"Look here," Joonmyeon beckons her closer, pointing at the holo-screen, rotating the image. There're only four blips on there, which is odd. The last few times, they had travelled in a larger group.

"Have you set the camera up?" Kyungsoo asks, eager to find out if  _ her _ mermaid is one of the ones out there.

"Yeah, but they're good at evading the camera angles. Now that they've figured out what they are, at least." Kyungsoo hums, wishing she could get a good look at them.

"Could I...? Could I go and take a look?" Joonmyeon looks at her, startled, but the corner of her lip gradually curls up.

"I mean, if you want to? I assume you've already finished your other duties for today."

"Yeah." Kyungsoo nods, excitement building in her at the prospect of seeing another mermaid up close.

"If you're willing to wait for Jongdae, then the answer is yes. I don't think she'd forgive either of us if I let you go without her."

"Ok, sure." Kyungsoo laughs, perching on the edge of one of the chairs around the table and hoping they don't get bored and leave before she turns up.

As luck would have it, Jongdae turns up just a few minutes later. Kyungsoo is almost hypnotised but the swirling movements of the blips on screen- are they circling the ship?- when Jongdae comes barrelling in, it makes both Joonmyeon and Kyungsoo jump.

"Are they still here!?" She almost yells, peering at the screen with wild eyes. She sags in relief at the sight of the little blue blips, still floating on the screen, and clutches at her camera again.

"Yes, they're still here. Kyungsoo wanted to go out and meet them, you game?" Joonmyeon asks.

"Am I  _ ever _ ." Jongdae nods. She holds out a hand to help Kyungsoo out of her seat, and pulls her up. Kyungsoo can't help but laugh at her enthusiasm, as they barrel out into the corridor.

"I was thinking if we go out there, we should use the air door. We can see if they come to the surface?" She says as she’s tugged along, "I wonder if they'll be curious enough about us to investigate."

"I'm sure they will be." Jongdae nods, "It's just a question of whether they can stand to be out of the water for any measure of time."

"If they don't surface, we can always go down to the lower entrance." Kyungsoo shrugs.

"That's true, but l'd like to try and get some good, clear pictures." Jongdae says, hitting the button to open the upper level door. It opens into another airlock, this one without a drainage system. The outer door opens, and instantly, curls of fog lick at their feet, pooling at the bottom of the small area like water. Kyungsoo takes in a shaky breath, and shares a look with Jongdae, who is still buzzing with excitement. 

“Do you see anything?” Kyungsoo asks, peering out into the grey. Jongdae makes a disappointed noise, and moves a little closer to the edge, sitting down so that her legs dangle over the water. Kyungsoo sits next to her, adjusting her glasses as if that might help her to see through the thick fog better. It doesn't.

 

After twenty minutes of waiting in silence with no results, Kyungsoo is getting impatient.

 

“I don't think they'll surface.” Jongdae says, lower lip caught between her teeth and eyebrows drawn low in thought. “I doubt they can.” Kyungsoo hums in consideration.

“Do you want to go down to the water lock?” 

“Maybe. I don't know. Let's wait-oh!” Jongdae grapples onto Kyungsoo's arm, pointing at something down below. Kyungsoo squints, trying to find what she's seen. A nebulous shadow appears, barely there at all, but getting bigger the more she watches. If Kyungsoo didn’t know any better, she would be terrified right now.

“That has to be them, right?” Jongdae whispers, voice high pitched in excitement. Kyungsoo grins, clinging back onto her friend and hardly able to keep from smiling. 

They stay under the surface, but gradually their form becomes clear enough to discern as the merfolk, less than ten, maybe five or six, swimming slowly around their perch.

“Joonmyeon, they're here, we have eyes on them.” Jongdae announces. Kyungsoo doesn't listen to the rest of the conversation, too intent on trying to find her mermaid. It's hard to make out any defining features through the mist and water. She pauses for a moment to consider her options; first is to stay here and see what she can see from up here, or she could slide into the water. It's not going to hurt her, it will just be cold, and she's confident that the merfolk mean her no harm as well. Well, that's settled; Kyungsoo begins to disrobe, removing her uniform jacket and trousers until she's only wearing her underclothes.

“Uh, Kyungsoo, what the fuck are you doing?” Jongdae asks, reminding her of her presence with a hand around her wrist. She stops short, realising for a moment the absurdity of her actions, but still planning to go ahead with it.

“I'm just going for a swim.” She shrugs. Jongdae looks at her like she's gone insane.

“You don't have a breather. And you're going to freeze. Go down to the water lock you nutcase, I'll join you.” She stands up, using Kyungsoo as leverage. “I guess you just couldn't wait ten minutes to dive in with your fishy friend, huh?” Jongdae teases. “I like your bra, by the way.”

“Thanks.” Kyungsoo says dryly, looking down at the red lace number she's got on, “I got it on discount from Solb.”

“It's pretty, but I don’t think alien mer creatures will appreciate it. Now, let's get going, it won’t take long to get suited up.”

Kyungsoo picks up her clothing, a little embarrassed, and follows her back into the ship. She doesn't bother to dress herself, when it will only come off again in a few minutes anyway.

“Do you think that store even exists anymore?” Jongdae wonders. “If it doesn't, then I really missed out on buying cute bras while I could.”

“I don't know.” Kyungsoo muses, “I guess it could be? But, like, you know how fashion changes so quickly; maybe people don’t even wear bras like this anymore?”

“That’s a weird thought.” Jongdae wrinkles her nose, “what would they wear instead? Maybe they’ve invented some kind of anti-gravity boob-lifter. Wouldn’t that be amazing.”

“No more wires? No awkward clasps? Sounds like heaven.” Kyungsoo agrees with a laugh. They round the corner, still walking quickly, and Kyungsoo presses the button that opens the entrance to the waterlock. There’s no talking as they tug on their nanoskin suits, both of them too concentrated on what they’re about to do to carry a conversation.

Joonmyeon's voice sounds on the PA before they leave, warning them not to spend too long out there.

"We won't!" Jongdae promises, shooting finger guns at the camera in the corner, and provoking a tired sigh from their captain, before activating the drainage system. Kyungsoo shares a secretive smile with Jongdae before the water reaches their neck, and they put their breathers in their mouths. The door opens with an ominous sounding thunk that would have definitely scared off any wildlife before, but hopefully the mermaids are a bit braver now. Kyungsoo swims forwards, peering out into the foggy greyness in search of signs of movement. At first, there’s nothing, and Kyungsoo's heart  begins to sink- maybe they left after all? But surely Joonmyeon would have said something, if that were the case. Kyungsoo looks at Jongdae, uncertain. Their eyes meet for just a second, before Jongdae's pupils flick just slightly to the left of Kyungsoo's head. She swivels around just in time to see a dark shape moving towards her at an alarming speed, and she almost lets her breather drop out of her mouth in shock. She backpedals into Jongdae' who curls an arm around her protectively. But the mermaid- not Kyungsoo's- only looks at them both, getting a little too close for comfort. She trills a long note, not taking her large, pale eyes off them for a moment, and seconds later more mermaids seem to be appearing out of thin air. Or thin...water? Kyungsoo doesn't know. Jongdae is squeezing her arm so hard she might tear through the nanoskin suit, and making a slightly worrying high pitched noise, out of what Kyungsoo assumes is excitement. Kyungsoo stomach is suddenly full of butterflies of a different genus- of anxiety rather than anticipation.

The mermaids gather around the alien life forms, and chatter in high pitched bursts, back and forth. Feeling like she's on display, Kyungsoo squints, wishing she had worn her glasses out here, even though she deliberately left them behind for fear she would drop them and never see them again. She has a few spare pairs just in case, but she’d rather not risk it.

One mermaid pushes through the growing crowd a little forcefully, and Kyungsoo can't hold back the giddy happiness; she can tell even without seeing well that this is her mermaid. She holds still, not wanting to spook her, and the other creature- or maybe she should use 'person'? They aren't sure how to categorise them quite yet- is thinking the same thing. They drift closer, and the chatter of the other mermaids fades out of her consciousness as they lock eyes. It's almost like the mermaid is trying to communicate with her, like she's willing her to understand something. But Kyungsoo isn't getting it. It's silent for too long, the tension building before Jongdae breaks it with a small shove against her back, in the mermaids direction. Kyungsoo scowls behind her. Jongdae takes her breather out of her mouth to let Kyungsoo read her lips. 'Do something' she says, as if there's something she should be doing, other than observing. Kyungsoo rolls her eyes, and turns back to her mermaid, who is looking between them curiously. The chattering has stopped as well, and Kyungsoo gradually realises that  _ all  _ of them are staring now. 

Her mermaid raises a hand, her long fingers hovering hesitantly in the chasm between them. Kyungsoo blinks, but otherwise doesn't move, and the mermaid seems to take this as permission; she reaches forward, placing one fingertip ever so gently on the breather, the central part that holds the main mechanism. It whirrs almost imperceptibly as it does its job, converting oxygen for her, and the mermaid seems to pick up on that. There’s a long moment wherein Kyungsoo thinks she’s going to try and take it from her, like she did before, but then she lowers her arm, moving closer instead. 

Her eyes have Kyungsoo held captive, like she’s caught in a spell. This close, she can see that her irises are flecked with a myriad of different colours, an iridescence so subtle that in this light it appears almost white. Her mouth opens, and she speaks again, but with words that Kyungsoo cannot understand. Kyungsoo’s eyebrows furrow, frustrated that there’s no way to communicate. The mermaid waits a long moment, giving Kyungsoo time to respond, but she just stares into her crystalline eyes in despair. What could she be asking of her? Or maybe she’s warning her. Or it might even just be a greeting- but there’s no way she can reproduce those clicking sounds, she’s almost certain of that. Not without hours of practicing in private, and even then it would only be a close approximation.

The mermaid speaks once more, just one word this time; two distinct syllables. Is it her name? Kyungsoo takes out her rebreather to try and say the name.

“Kai?” Kyungsoo tries, unintentionally making them flow together. Its difficult to say anything underwater, but it seems like it’s close enough; the mermaid makes a low humming sound, and doesn’t try to correct her. 

Kyungsoo repeats the word a few times, trying to get closer to the way the mermaid said it. Kai makes a high pitch sound that ascends at the end, almost like a whistle, and her eyes close into thin crescents. Is this…. _ funny _ to her? Kyungsoo flushes and fidgets with her hair, gathering it up and pulling it over her shoulder. The gesture catches the mermaid’s attention, and she mimics her, pulling her thick hair in front of her body as well. Kyungsoo flushes even harder, for a reason she doesn’t understand. All the training she had about intergalactic negotiations was either politically based, or ‘how to not be perceived as a threat’, and it was catered to planets that are already aware of space travel and foreign species. None of her lessons told her how to tell an alien life form that they’re cute. She twists her hair absently, suddenly unable to meet the mermaid’s eyes for more than a few seconds at a time. Jongdae is making a ruckus amongst the other mermaids; she doesn’t need words, her charismatic personality is making it easy for her enthusiasm to be understood.

Kyungsoo hums softly, and wishes she were able to be as forward as that. Drawing her focus back, Kai says her name again, then inclines her head towards Kyungsoo. Ah! She must be asking how to call her. She takes her rebreather out again,

“Kyungsoo.” she says, trying to ennunciate as clearly as she can. Kai doesn’t say anything back right away, but just when Kyungsoo is about to repeat herself, slower this time, Kai says it back perfectly. 

Kyungsoo is shocked. It must show on her face, because Kai whistles again. Kyungsoo is certain that that whistle is a happy sound, like laughter for a human. Kyungsoo giggles, caught up in the moment; Kai’s laughter makes her happy too. Kai leans closer, still whistle-laughing. She raises her hand again, and lightly touches Kyungsoo’s twisted up hair with a clipped sound.

“My hair?” Kyungsoo asks. She should really stop letting it loose in the water here, she’s running out of her conditioner at an alarming rate. Kai diligently repeats the whole thing back at her, and it takes a few more attempts for her to understand that it’s just ‘hair’ and not ‘my-hair’ together. Kyungsoo tries her best to say it in Kai’s language, but she’s sure it sounds garbled.

They continue to exchange words, pointing at different body parts and trying to remember what each one is. Just as Kyungsoo is interested in Kai’s tail and fins, Kai finds her legs fascinating. Neither of them touch each other more than the gentlest of grazes, to indicate what they’re referring to, but it’s obvious that both parties want to know more. 

A little time passes, and Kyungsoo impulsively grabs Kai’s wrist, pulling her up to the surface so Kyungsoo doesn’t have to keep taking her rebreather in and out to talk. Kai seems surprised by her sudden actions, though less to do with Kyungsoo and more about being above water, albeit just her face. Have none of them ever been curious as to what lie beyond? 

After pushing her hair away from her face, where its stuck, she takes a few gulps of the cool yet muggy, humid air. Kai appears reluctant to let any more than just her face out of the water, and keeps dipping back a few centimetres, to let it splash over her open eyes.

Kyungsoo tries to describe how they arrived here. She starts by pointing at their ship, then the foggy sky, then mimes their ship entering the atmosphere and landing. Kyungsoo isn’t sure exactly how much Kai comprehends, but she spends a contemplative moment staring upwards.

She blinks slowly, taking in the grey of the sky, while Kyungsoo watches her. This moment seems to stretch on forever- Kai catches her gaze once again, and suddenly Kyungsoo can’t breathe anymore, despite being surrounded by air.

What could she be thinking? 

Even if she had known how to ask, she doesn’t get the chance to; a few moments later, Jongdae emerges beside them, interrupting the tranquil moment.

“I’m starting to get pruney even with the suit, I think we should head back in, ok?” She says, her eyes still glittering with excitement. Clearly, she doesn’t want to leave either, but Joonmyeon had asked them not to stay out too long anyway, so it’s probably for the better. Kyungsoo nods, and makes to follow her, but then remembers Kai. Aside from her, all the other mermaids have disappeared already.

“I’m going back inside our ship, but I’ll be back, I promise.” She points to the side of the ship to see if she understands. It doesn’t look like it, judging by the way she stares back at them blankly.

“C’mon.” Jongdae urges, “She’ll understand in a moment.”

“Ok, fine.” Kyungsoo reluctantly agrees, but feels bad all the same. They’ve returned before, she has no reason to believe they’ll suddenly vanish for good this time. Both of them dive, rebreathers in their mouths, and swim towards the water lock. It opens as they draw nearer and Kai, who had been keeping (very slow) pace with them, hesitates.

Kyungsoo turns around, wondering what’s wrong. As the door gives a low  _ clunk _ and begins to descend, Kai says something else, but Kyungsoo still doesn’t understand anything. The airlock closes, and the water begins to noisily drain from the chamber, leaving both women a sopping bedraggled mess.

“Is it just me or did she seem sad to let you go?” Jongdae teases. Kyungsoo wrinkles her nose, and pushes her gently before wringing out her hair. But it’s sort of true, it didn’t look like she wanted to part so soon. The thought makes her happy somehow. 

“Don’t attack me, I’ll report you!” Jongdae squawks, lightly kicking her butt.

“To who, Joonmyeon? She’ll just ask you what you did to deserve it.”

“Whatever. Why is no one ever on my side? It’s not fair.” Jongdae pouts miserably as she peels off her nanoskin suit. 

“You make it too easy.” Kyungsoo laughs. Jongdae mock-scowls at her.

“Well, it doesn’t matter. I got to hold a mer-baby and you didn’t, so who’s the real winner here?”

“Mer-baby?” Kyungsoo does a double take, “they had young ones with them?” She hadn’t noticed at all. Jongdae squints at her in disbelief.

“How the flying  _ fuck _ did you miss that? Oh wait-  _ I _ know how. You were too busy being a useless fish-lesbian to-” Kyungsoo shoves her again before she can finish her sentence, mortified. Jongdae dissolves into giggles, “ _ kidding _ , kidding! But seriously, they were adorable- I’m not surprised you didn’t see them at first ‘cause they carry them on their backs so they’re covered by hair most of the time.”

“That’s cool.” Kyungsoo agrees, peering over Jongdae’s shoulder to see the photographs with one eyebrow raised. The infant is held aloft by a mermaid who Kyungsoo has to assume is their mother, and she’s immediately jealous of Jongdae for having been able to hold them, because they’re adorable. Their head is disproportionately large, compared to its body, and their huge eyes are soulful and inquisitive. On some of the pictures, the baby’s delicate skin looks translucent, dark veins just barely visible. 

“Whoa.” Kyungsoo breathes. Just being able to see one in a photo feels like a privilege.

“Right?” Jongdae enthuses, zooming in on one of the photos. “Such a pretty baby. I couldn’t figure out if it was her child, or if she was just carrying it. I don’t know how they raise young here, it might be one child one parent, or it could be group responsibility. I can’t wait to find out.”

“You think you’re going to be able to properly talk to them?” Kyungsoo’s eyes widen.

“Well, I’m no linguist, but I managed to communicate at least somewhat. And Joonmyeon has a lot of languages under her belt, so we might be able to rely on her to pick up on the languages side of things.” Jongdae shrugs.

“My mermaid told me her name is Kai.” Kyungsoo says as she begins to undress, “and she was able to copy things that I said pretty easily, maybe we don’t necessarily need to worry too much?”

“ _ ‘My _ mermaid’?” Jongdae teases, one eyebrow raised. 

“Shut up.” Kyungsoo scowls, making Jongdae snort. She stops undressing, leaving her nanoskin suit covering up most of her body. Jongdae chews on her lip thoughtfully. 

“Well, I’d rather make the effort anyway, wouldn’t you? It’s not really fair otherwise. Even if it’s difficult.”

“That’s true.” Kyungsoo hums. She feels the same way, she just has doubts about her abilities to pick up the language and  _ retain  _ it. You don’t need to talk to plants, after all. Languages are not exactly where her talents lie. That  _ and _ doing all the other research that needs to be done will present a lot of challenges.

“Did you see how they were carrying the children?” Jongdae asks, flipping back a couple of photos, “they sort of tie it up with cords, look, and strap it to their backs. I can’t tell if it’s the same stuff their necklaces are made of, but it looks pretty similar to me.”

“That sounds kind of dangerous.” 

“Oh, it’s all knotted up, like netting. They’re not strangling the infant, don’t worry.”

“Oh wow, is that one bald?!” Kyungsoo gasps, waving her finger in front of the screen to make her go back. When she swipes backwards, Kyungsoo can see that there’s more than one mermaid with completely hairless heads.

“Yeah. I think they might either be males, or they keep their heads shaven for better hydrodynamics? Maybe they’re like  _ fighters  _ or something. I’m not really sure. Ahh, there’s so much to find out!” She literally shivers with excitement, and Kyungsoo watches on fondly as she continues to make guesses about their clothing choices, the materials, and how their physiology works. The amount of information she’s compiling, she’ll be able to write at least two books on the subject, let alone just their usual reports.

“Well, I gotta go start archiving and analysing all these. I assume you still have work to do as well, so I guess I’ll see you later?”

“I guess so.” Kyungsoo hums, mind still running a thousand miles per hour. 

 

The next time the mermaids make a visit, Kyungsoo is caught up in her work, unable to get away from the plants that need her attention, so she’s forced to miss out on socialising with the natives. She’s not exactly sure when the highlight of this trip became meeting fish people, rather than tending to and researching the local flora that she came for, but she can’t deny that her priorities have shifted a little since she woke up. Who can blame her? Meeting real-life aliens that have never been exposed to off-planet culture is incredible. And she’s missing it; Baekhyun and Joonmyeon are probably out there right now, splashing around and having fun with them without her. She almost snips off a perfectly functioning potato flower head in her frustration, and she’s still in a bad mood when she joins Baekhyun and Joonmyeon, who have a whole new file of photographs for her to sift through while she eats her second meal of the day. Kyungsoo dismally scrolls through all of the photos on the camera screen, chewing pensively. A lot of them are similar to what she’s seen before, but there’s so many more of them now than before. Maybe even more than thirty of them. Kyungsoo doesn’t want to admit it, but she’s scanning all of the pictures for a glimpse of Kai. She doesn’t seem to be there.

“Kyungsoo, you should have  _ seen  _ her-” Baekhyun enthuses, shaking an embarrassed Joonmyeon’s shoulder while she protects her tea from spilling everywhere, “I knew she would pick it up quickly, but she was practically talking in full sentences after only a few hours. It was crazy!“

“I wish I  _ could  _ have seen it.” Kyungsoo grumbles, shovelling her re-hydrated space food into her mouth. While the plants are making progress, they’re still at least a few more days away from being edible.They still need a lot of attention. And why they had to have space  _ potatoes _ , rather than space  _ rice _ , was beyond her. American scientists, she figures.

“I knew you would say that, which is exactly why I took a bunch of videos for your viewing pleasure!” Baekhyun says, pulling the screen away from Kyungsoo and selecting a different folder for her to sift through. She presents it back to her with a flourish, and taps the screen. Kyungsoo squints at her for half a second before her attention is stolen by the happenings on the screen.

 

_ The camera wobbles and moves around, as though the user were unused to using the device. When the image settles, it’s clear that they’re below the surface of the water, the lense pointed towards the mass of native merfolk, who all seem increasingly curious about the visitors. Some of them cling to each other, chattering in their dolphin-like language. Joonmyeon treads water at the midpoint between the merfolk and the ship, and Baekhyun, looking back towards the camera nervously. _

_ Baekhyun’s hand appears, eclipsing the majority of the screen to give Joonmyeon a thumbs up. Despite the rebreather in her mouth, it’s easy to tell that Joonmyeon is smiling back at her, her eyes curving into half moons as she returns the gesture.  _

_ The view jumps forward in time to a close-up position of Joonmyeon apparently communicating- sort of- with a mermaid. This one has similar long black hair to Kai, but her eyes appear deeper set in her face, and her skin paler. She wears no braided necklaces around her neck. Joonmyeon has removed her rebreather, though it is held aloft not far from her face, so that she can try to talk. Their leader’s face is one of intense concentration as she stares at the mermaid, watching the way she forms the sounds that make up her language. Joonmyeon tries out a few words, fudging the pronunciation a little- is the mermaid laughing? A high pitch whistle similar to Kai’s rings out across the water, echoed by a few other mermaids. A flurry of bubbling noises that are instantly recognisable to Kyungsoo as trying to laugh with a rebreather can only mean Baekhyun is laughing too. Joonmyeon sends the camera a reproachful glare, her face visibly red even in the dim lighting, before trying again. _

_ The footage cuts away again, focusing instead on the antics of some smaller- younger?- mermaids, with shorter hair and more bashful temperaments. They dart in and out of the older merfolk, using them as shields, dashing out towards Baekhyun for a moment, before changing their minds and rushing back to safety. They’re so fast, the camera only captures a dark blur when they swim by. They peer out from behind the larger merfolk with wide eyes, watching both Baekhyun and Joonmyeon carefully- _

 

“Kai was there?” Kyungsoo blurts out, pausing the video to get a better look. In the background, Kai is floating alongside the mermaids that Joonmyeon is talking to.

“She was. She was asking about you.” Joonmyeon watches Kyungsoo knowingly. “She seemed upset you weren’t available.” The marine botanist tries not to smile, but it makes her inexplicably happy that Kai wants to see her as much as she does. She’s the first member of the crew to learn a mermaid’s name.

“It was cute, really.” Baekhyun affirms, “but not as cute as these kids- look how adorable they are hiding behind their parents!” She continues to coo over the miniature creatures.

“ _ Are _ they their parents?” Kyungsoo asks, pressing play again and watching the children play. She hopes they turn up next time as well, she’d love to meet them too.

“I don’t know, but they’re at least very familiar with them, so obviously they’re  _ something _ . We can figure it out as we learn more.” 

Kyungsoo is only paying attention with half a mind, more interested in catching glimpses of Kai on screen. 

_ There’s another jump forward, and Kai’s face is filling almost the entire screen, but just for a few seconds- Baekhyun switches between filming whoever is speaking at the time. There’s another mermaid with them now, one with darker eyes and no hair. Joonmyeon seems to have a good grasp now already, although the words are very unnatural, coming from her mouth. It looks like its a struggle to make the sounds they use; throat clicking doesn’t come naturally to her. Joonmyeon furrowns her brow, concentrating intensely. She nods and turns to the camera, pointing upwards. They float with their heads just above the water, and just behind Joonmyeon, the mermaids’ eyes peer over the surface, blinking at them. Kai drifts closer, watching them in a way that is reminiscent of maybe a cat.  _

_ Joonmyeon pushes her hair out of her face,  _

_ “I think she’s saying that we’re welcome to visit them. I’m pretty sure it’s an invitation.” There’s a pause where Baekhyun must make some kind of gestural response, “I mean, I guess? It’s my first time trying to speak their language, there’s always a chance they’re saying we’re welcome to be eaten alive. But I don’t get that impression from them.” _

_ “I don’t want to be eaten alive.” _

_ “Neither do I.” Joonmyeon agrees. “I’ll try to say yes, but that we can’t leave right now.”  _

_ “Ok.” Baekhyun says, before they both duck back into the cold water. The three mermaids sink down with them, their hair fanning out behind them and drifting in the current. Baekhyun focuses on the mermaids’ faces as Joonmyeon relays her response.  _

 

It’s hard to read their faces, the way they express emotion is inhuman and unfamiliar. Kai’s pale eyes scrutinise Joonmyeon as she speaks, so still despite the gentle current. She has no eyebrows- what would a sea creature need eyebrows for? The subtle markings on her face, mottled shades of browns, are clearer when she’s not moving like this. She’s very beautiful.

Kyungsoo shakes her head, and rewinds the video to zoom in on Kai’s neck. The necklace she’s wearing definitely some kind of plant fiber, woven into something that resembles something between lace and very loose-weave fabric. Or maybe it’s knotted, like their baby carriers? It’s still a little blurry, Kyungsoo can’t quite make it out. It’s about the width of her hand, and very simple compared to the other mermaid’s necklace, which is much more interesting, as it looks more like a scarf than a necklace with tassels hanging down across her torso. It seems to graduate in colour, paler close to the mermaid’s head. Kyungsoo wonders if there’s a meaning to that. She hums.

“So we’ll be going on an excursion soon then, I assume?” She looks up at Joonmyeon, who is typing something with one hand while she finishes her tea. Their leader nods, and swallows.

“Yep. We only have three more months here, so I figure the sooner we get out there, the more data we can compile, the better. We don’t have to go into neo-stasis the moment we set off, we can continue to work on things for a week or so once we’ve left. We should be fine.”

Oh yeah. Kyungsoo had almost forgotten that their time here was so limited. She really needs to get her hands on some live samples, if she wants a good chance of getting any real data, rather than studying blurry photos of ‘maybe plant fibers’ in between pruning the potatoes.

“So when are we going?” Kyungsoo asks, the pad of her finger hovering over the still image of Kai. She doesn’t want to admit that another major reason for going would be to meet Kai again. And the other mermaids too, of course, but….Kai is special to her. Dangerously so. She bites her lip. Maybe it’s best not to get too attached, but Kyungsoo was never very good at listening to logic. That’s why she’s here, and not on earth, where her teachers said she should focus on something more attainable. 

“Once everyone has slept a cycle. Jongdae’s already asleep, and I’m getting tired too. You should sleep soon as well, both of you.” Joonmyeon gestures between Kyungsoo and Baekhyun with her mug. “I know what you lot are all like, you’ll stay up for three straight days if I don’t keep an eye on you.”

Baekhyun grins and salutes, to Joonmyeon’s chagrin. “Yes ma’am. I’ll be heading off for a kip once I’ve sorted all this out.” 

“And I’ll go sleep once I’ve done a final check of the garden.” Kyungsoo agrees, making no move to get up just yet. Instead, she watches Kai’s big eyes for a little longer.

 

Its early in their routine when all of them file into the waterlock chamber, lining up and standing to attention so Joonmyeon can give them a formal rundown of their mission. For the records. Kyungsoo is still sleepy, and her hair is a mess, but its going to be tied up for the excursion, so it could be worse.

She hadn’t been able to sleep particularly well last cycle. Once she had thought enough about Kai, and meeting more mermaids- the exciting part- she had begun to think more about the mission itself. Swimming out into the abyss. The unknown. That had set her nerves on edge and as a result, meant she only got four hours of sleep.

“The goal is to reach the merfolks settlement, gather data without being intrusive, and then leave.” Joonmyeon informs them, her iHolo shimmering in one hand. “We can’t take more than three meals each, so our time is limited; if we get too far away from the ship, we may have to turn back without any results. Hopefully it won’t come to that, but we don’t know how far mermaids can travel yet. We also don’t know the depth of their settlement, so we’re taking precautions and wearing heavier duty gear.”

“This is a lot of unknowns.” Jongdae comments. Kyungsoo agrees. This time they won’t have a cable that connects them to the ship. Joonmyeon sighs through her nose.

“Yes, but this whole mission is a risk. All we can do is minimise. Any questions?”

Baekhyun raises her hand- “that  _ aren’t _ about how soon we can facilitate planet wide bathymetrics with the MBES machine.” Baekhyun lowers her hand, sulky. No one else makes a move to ask anything. Joonmyeon nods. “Good. Let’s get suited up then.”

Jongdae and Baekhyun playfully fight over who gets which nanosuit- which is baffling, because they’re all identical. They stop elbowing each other only when Joonmyeon reprimands them with a short glare. With practiced ease, they slip on their nanoskins, followed by the the deep sea gear, and waterproof rucksacks with food, then gather around the entrance to the waterlock. 

“Everyone remember to switch your radios on,” Joonmyeon reminds her crew, before pulling her helmet over her head The excited nerves that have been fluttering in Kyungsoo’s stomach for hours take on new life, and Kyungsoo wonders if it’s safe to vomit inside her helmet. Jongdae, next to her, brushes her gloved hand across her own, a sign of reassurance.

Baekhyun presses the door button, and the drainage system chugs to life, water pooling at their feet and rising higher until the pressure equals out. 

The last  _ clunk  _ of the machinery always goes right through her, and she winces. The murky grey view of the ocean, paler near the surface, stretches out before them. Will they find anything? If they come across any predatory creatures, will their suits protect them? Will they be able to rendezvous with the merfolk? Kyungsoo clenches her fist and inhales.

“Let’s go girls.” Joonmyeon announces, leading the way outside the ship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello it is i, eleri, back from an educational hiatus and 'ready' to go into the 'real world' after i 'graduate'. thank u for being patient while i finished my degree, but i am finally back with another update! as usual i cant promise timely updates bc i have a lot of things going on and im not the most productive person anyway, but i hope you enjoy when i /do/ update hehe  
> thank u to indi and laura for helping me with this chapter!  
> leave a comment if you enjoyed!


	4. Log 004

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A visit to the place where the merfolk live!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> its been 100 years again but its here now!

The nerves have all dried up. Kyungsoo feels the same way she used to when she went to the gym as part of the mission prep. Travelling, for hours and hours, even with the propulsion fans, but with no change in scenery, reminds her of running on the treadmills. At least back then she had someone marking off her progress, and clear goals. Out in the middle of the Gliese 1214b’s vast grey ocean, there’s no way of knowing how much further until they reach their destination, and Baekhyun’s eye-spy jokes got old a lifetime ago. They can only hope that they cross paths with some of the merfolk at some point. Hopefully soon. They’re all getting tired; Kyungsoo hasn’t been paying attention to what Jongdae and Baekhyun are bickering about, but it must not be that important since Joonmyeon hasn’t intervened yet. 

Kyungsoo squints into the distance, glad that she’s able to wear her glasses comfortably with the helmets on. Not that there’s anything to see out here except floating particles- which are a mixture of microbubbles, sand and fragments of dead sea-life, apparently. Some of them are plant based, and others are animal, but it’s difficult to say what they’re from conducively without more data. The only thing it really confirms is that there is life out there, which they already knew.

Suddenly the bickering stops, and Baekhyun freezes.

“Did you hear that?” She says, holding her breath. Kyungsoo frowns, nervous. Is something else out here? 

“I didn’t hear anything.” Jongdae says, turning all around her. No one can see anything. 

“Maybe I imagined- wait, sh!” Baekhyun interrupts herself mid sentence, and this time Kyungsoo can hear it too. A low, ululating wail. The hairs on the back of Kyungsoo’s neck raise, and her heart pounds.  It’s definitely not a mermaid, this is something much bigger. What on earth could it be? Something the size of a whale, or perhaps bigger. Kyungsoo has visions of teeth bigger than her body, of a monstrous leviathan, bigger than her imagination can comprehend.

“I’m not seeing anything on the radar.” Joonmyeon mutters urgently. Either it’s out of range, or somehow it’s physiology is resistant to radar.

“I can only hear one, whatever it is.” Jongdae comments, the whisper of her voice sounding distant across the transmission. The cry sounds once more, louder this time, and the crew members instinctively draw together, facing outwards.

“A solitary creature?” Joonmyeon marvels, her tone coloured with fear. Though they all know that sound carries a long, long way through water, especially lower pitched sounds like that, they’re all on edge.

“Should we turn back?” Kyungsoo murmurs, “it could be dangerous. What if it’s territorial.”

“Wait a minute,” Jongdae says, eyes flashing. “There’s no reason to say that it might be aggressive, it might be a gentle giant.” Kyungsoo bites her lip, not wanting to take that chance. 

Despite the fact that the mysterious monster could be miles away, nobody moves a muscle. 

The third time they hear the cry, it sounds quieter, and they collectively breathe a sigh of relief.

“Well, whatever it was, it’s passed us by.” Jongdae says, sounding almost disappointed. “I wonder if the mermaids will be able to tell us anything about it?”

“We can definitely ask!” Joonmyeon says, still sounding a little shaken up. She clears her throat, “We’ll give it another hour, and if there’s still no sign of any merfolk, we’ll have to turn back.”

“Hopefully we run into them soon. I thought they were expecting us?”

“It was all very vague and uncertain. I  _ think _ they were expecting us, but I can’t be sure.”

“Huh.” Jongdae hums. “So who wants to start placing bets as to what that thing was. I’ll start; five thousand won says it’s an anthropod.” Jongdae snorts.

“An anthropod? Are you fucking insane?” Baekhyun laughs, “There’s no way that thing is a giant shrimp.”

“You never know. What do  _ you  _ think it is, then?”

“Obviously it’s going to be a cephalopod. A giant squid thing.” Baekhyun says, with absolute certainty.

“Cephalopods don’t make sounds, though.” Jongdae points out.

“And anthropods  _ do _ ? We’re not on earth anymore, sweetheart.” Baekhyun sneers, “the normal rules might not apply.”

“Oh, go suck a rock.” Jongdae snips.

“I’m going to guess it’s a cetacean.” Joonmyeon interjects, before things get too hairy. A cetacean makes the most sense to Kyungsoo too, with her limited knowledge of marine animals. Cetaceans breathe air, and therefore have vocal chords, so it would be more likely that they could produce a sound like that. She thinks.

“I think so too, but I’m going to play along and say it’s a fish.” She chimes in. “A  _ huge  _ shark, with huge teeth.”

“Nuh-uh, it’s definitely a shrimp. It totally makes that sound by rubbing its legs together, like a cricket.” Jongdae says primly, supporting her ridiculous theory with even  _ more  _ ridiculous theories. 

She goes on to explain more about her imaginary sea behemoth, and suddenly her shrimp creature jumps and waggles its legs to carry it further, wears coral for jewellery and if they all swim to the seafloor, they’ll definitely come across a discarded exoskeleton within seconds.

“I hope not, that would mean there’s an abundance of scary huge shrimps swimming around.” Kyungsoo wrinkles her nose, but she’s no longer scared.

“I, for one, hope there is, I’d lov-”

“Guys, I’ve got three blips on our radar!” Joonmyeon interrupts, “they’re below, to our left. We should be able to see what it is in a second. They’re coming straight for us, so I hope it’s the mermaids, otherwise we might be in trouble.”

As it turns out, there’s no need to worry. It’s three mermaids, one of which they recognise. The other two are bald, and flank the one that they know. Joonmyeon greets them with a line she must have practiced .Kyungsoo tries to quietly mimic it, but it doesn’t sound right to her. She has a lot of work to do in order to catch up with their leader.

“They want us to follow them. I think they’re going to swim slowly so we can keep up.” Joonmyeon informs them.Barely a second after she’s finished talking, the mermaids have already turned tail and are swimming back the way they came. Maybe this pace is slow for them, but it’s still fast as far as Kyungsoo is concerned. The first few minutes or so are tense silence, as the two parties figure out a pace that works for all of them.

“I wonder if this means we’re close by?” Kyungsoo whispers, more to herself than anyone else. Could they be detected from so far off? Maybe the sound of the machinery is painting a huge aural target on their backs; a scary thought.

It doesn’t take nearly as long, comparatively, to reach the place the mermaids inhabit. 

At first, Kyungsoo thinks she’s seeing things; in the distance, blurry shapes take form. Squinting to try and see better through the dark, misty water, more and more shapes come into view, until Kyungsoo can discern that they are large, spherical structures. Her mouth hangs open in awe; each ball appears to be woven plant fibre, and all of them- maybe twenty at a quick count- are attached together with more knotted plant fibre as they drift through the ocean. Merfolk drift in between them, on their way to socialise, working on some kind of handicraft or food preparation, or playing together. Without realising it, Kyungsoo is looking for her mermaid, Kai.

“Are you guys  _ seeing  _ this?” Jongdae breathes, breaking the awed silence. Kyungsoo nods, the motion barely visible with the bulky helmet on. Besides, no one is looking her way anyway.

This is more than any of them could ever have truly hoped for. Of course, there was speculation, but with the technology currently available to them, there was no way of telling if life thrived on this planet.

Their merfolk guides swerve to a stop just outside one of the closest buildings. Can she really call it a building? She isn’t sure. Maybe dwelling would be a better word for what she’s seeing. Joonmyeon, at the head of their formation, leads the discussion. There’s a lot of gesturing, pointing. Kyungsoo can see Jongdae focusing very hard, and nodding every so often, but Baekhyun looks completely clueless. Kyungsoo can only catch the odd word, and even then she’s never 100% sure, but she understands more than the marine geologist does. That’s probably thanks to Kai, she thinks ruefully.

As the talking draws out, more and more merfolk begin to gather, curious. Kyungsoo feels a little nervous with all these new pairs of eyes on them- this time they’re on the merfolks turf, no ifs and buts about it. If they mess up, that’s it. They’re done. Well, they’ll still have the data they’ve already accrued, but getting more detailed insights into the environment will be much easier with help.

Filtering out the conversation, Kyungsoo absently drifts as close as she dares to one of the dwellings. She can’t see any sign of an entrance from this angle, so maybe there’s a hole on the other side, or at the bottom, but she  _ can _ see the detail in the weaving. It’s so closely packed, it could probably be watertight, and it looks very rigid and sturdy. The netting that connects all the spheres together appears to be woven into the very base of it, not put in as an afterthought. 

What could they be made of? If it’s not plant based, then she supposes it could be somehow animal based- there are parts of animals that can be woven into things, though they’re probably harder to come by in marine life, especially in these quantities. Just as she’s about to propel herself even closer, for further inspection, Joonmyeon turns around. 

“We’re going to split up. Jongdae, you’re going to stick with me, since your research needs more contact with the natives, and I can help translate.”

“Yes ma’am.” Jongdae tries to salute, but the bulkiness of the diving gear makes it look silly.

“Baekhyun, you’re going to have a guide who will show you something related to the ground.” Joonmyeon beckons her forward, to meet one of the mermaids who is floating nearby. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t be more specific, but hopefully it will be worth it anyway.”

“Yes, ma’am.” She moves forwards to be acquainted with her guide, a bald headed mermaid, almost twice the size of Baekhyun even with her diving gear on. Kyungsoo can tell she’s nervous even without looking at her face; she hasn’t cracked a single joke since they got here.

“And Kyungsoo, you’re having a guide too. They aren’t here yet, but they seem very adamant that we wait.” She snorts. Kyungsoo suddenly has the feeling that she should have been listening harder.

“Yes, ma’am.” She replies, wary. 

“Alright, then. Let’s disperse.” She waves Baekhyun off, who seems reluctant to part with her fellow humans. Joonmyeon speaks once again to the mermaid, who replies with something Kyungsoo feels as though she should understand, but doesn’t.

“We’ll wait with you until your guide gets here,” Joonmyeon explains to Kyungsoo afterwards. “It shouldn’t be long now.” Joonmyeon’s smile looks awfully suspicious when paired with the angled lighting inside her helmet. Kyungsoo narrows her eyes at her. What is going on?

True to her word, it doesn’t take long before a mermaid comes barrelling into the area, to a round of pretty whistling laughter. 

“Kai?” She breathes. Kai is her guide? She should have guessed, with the way Joonmyeon was behaving. Kyungsoo is trying to curb her smile as Kai makes a beeline straight for her. She stops directly in front of her, their bodies parallel despite the propeller in between them. Actually, she’s a little too close  for comfort, her huge, pale eyes barely a handspan away from the visor of her helmet. This reminds her of when they first met, and although she isn’t terrified out of her wits this time, she’s still a little breathless.

“Hello.” Kyungsoo says, then repeating what she thinks is a greeting in their native language. Kai trills and greets her in return. Kyungsoo is struck by a wave of bashfulness, not able to meet Kai’s eyes.

“Well, we’ll be off then.” Joonmyeon says, “Make sure you get as much research done as possible, we aren’t going to be here for very long, remember.” She gives Kyungsoo a pointed look that doesn’t feel deserved; when has Kyungsoo ever wasted time not documenting things that needed to be documented? Kai speaks again, and Kyungsoo is distracted from Joonmyeon instantly. Hm. Maybe she has a bit of a point. Only a bit, though.

“Kyungsoo.” Kai says, swimming away and looking back at her from an upside-down perspective. Kyungsoo bites back a laugh as she does a loop, and follows her. It’s a little strange to see her from this angle, though it must be normal for the merfolk- Kyungsoo can only compare it to being sat on the floor while someone she knows is stood up talking to her. Kyungsoo can only guess that the earth rules of up and down don’t apply here.

Kai leads her away from the main settlement, where all of the houses seem to be, into the grey vastness. Out of the corner of her eye, she can see faint shadows zipping past, too quick for her to lock onto. 

Kyungsoo can’t lie, she feels a bit nervous to be separated from the rest of her crew, but she does trust Kai. Besides, their radios should cover the distance, if she needs it to.

It’s not quite clear how long they travel for, nor how far, but Kyungsoo is fairly sure that she’ll be able to reconvene with the crew in a timely manner. Hopefully.

She takes a breath and moves to try and keep up with Kai, but it proves difficult. It would probably be quicker if Kai took her by the hand and pulled her along, in all honesty, but that would require leaving her propeller behind. She's not ready to give that up.

Where could Kai be leading her? It seems like they're heading pretty far out. More than once, Kyungsoo wonders if she should try to talk to the mermaid, but she can't think of anything to say, that she can say in her language; talking about the plants is going to be quite the challenge. How on earth is she going to be able to ask all the things she needs to ask? The most she's going to be able to get out of this is a few samples... maybe.

The waving, rippling motion of the flukes of Kai's tail prove to be hypnotising, and Kyungsoo allows herself to zone out as they swim along together. Her tail is very pretty.

Their journey ends more abruptly than Kyungsoo expects, since she had been daydreaming a little, but she almost lets her momentum carry her right into Kai, only just managing to redirect herself in time. Kai seems to find this amusing, much to Kyungsoo's embarrassment. Well, she should have been paying more attention to her surroundings.

 

When Kyungsoo looks around her, it takes her a few moments to process what it is that she's actually seeing. A multitude of floating, dark, grey-blue spheres are spread out around them, drifting in the warm currents. Kyungsoo switches off her propeller, and the last whirr of the machine fizzles into silence, leaving Kyungsoo's small gasp very audible as she draws nearer to one of them. She swims, ungracefully, and positions herself so that one of the floating balls is directly in front of her visor. It's not really a ball at all, she realises on closer inspection, but something more akin to diadema setosum, also known as the setosum spined sea urchin. It has long, very thin protrusions branching off from a central point, which is about the size of her closed fist. But unlike the predatory sea creature, this is definitely a plant- this has no sign of a mouth, or digestive system. Sea urchins can be very dangerous, and this plant is quite intimidating because of that, so Kyungsoo doesn't dare touch it, just changes her angle around it. Kyungsoo's cousin had had an encounter with one of these, and had needed to visit the hospital to get the spines removed. The spines aren't cylindrical, they're flat, like very elongated pine needles, but more flexible. The whole thing is about the width of her outstretched arm, so she would guess each of the spines would be about 20cm in length.

Kai, sneaking up behind her, reaches over her shoulder to run her webbed fingers through the spines. They sway in her wake, and Kyungsoo tries to concentrate on that, rather than the fact that Kai is about two inches away from her. So they're not harmful to the mermaids, and they're flexible. This is good to know. So is the fact that Kai seems completely unafraid to get all up in her personal space- not that she didn't already know that. Lip caught between her teeth, Kyungsoo pulls out a camera and beings to take some photos, close ups and wider shots of the area it in habits. 

Kai remains hovering right beside her, whistling softly every now and then. If she's right, and the whistling is laughing to them, then what could she be finding so funny? Kyungsoo feels like she's missing a joke, and her cheeks are burning. Huffing, she tries to remember how to ask 'what?', but Kai is no longer paying attention to her. Instead, she's pulling one of the plants to pieces, plucking each spine out at the centre. 

Kyungsoo holds out her camera to record the process, zooming into what her hands her doing. Once she's picked it clean, a bundle of spines in one hand, Kai takes a huge bite out of the core, revealing a paler grey, almost translucent, centre. After seeing Kai's teeth, Kyungsoo had assumed that merfolk were carnivorous, but maybe she shouldn't have been so quick to jump to conclusions. Kai gnaws at the flesh of the fruit until there's nothing left but a stone, small enough that Kyungsoo might dismiss it if Kai hadn't just set it adrift right in front of her. Kyungsoo reaches for it with the hand that isn't holding the camera. The thick gloves make it kind of hard to grasp onto it, but when she finally manages to catch it, she brings it close to her helmet to look- it must be a seed. Kyungsoo documents it on the camera, trying to get a clear picture. When she looks up, Kai is doing something fiddly with the spines; she’s used one of them to tie the rest together, and is slowly tying several into a knot. 

Then it hits her; these plants are what  _ everything  _ is made of.

"Oh my god." Kyungsoo says out loud, causing Kai to look up in confusion, startled. Why on earth hadn't she made that connection before? Clumsily, Kyungsoo kicks her legs until she's close enough to talk with Kai. She sets her camera to video, and lets it float next to them, hopefully capturing everything.

" _ What is _ ?" She says, to the best of her ability, while pointing at the spiny fibres. Kai watches her, eyes glimmering, and tells her. Kyungsoo parrots it, repeating after Kai until she's sure she has it right, then continues to mutter it quietly, running her finger along the grain of the bundle. Kai dashes away to retrieve an untouched version of the plant, and calls it something else. Then points at the centre, which also has its own name. Of course, why would it not. Kyungsoo holds out the seed, asking for its name as well. She doesn't know how to ask how it grows down here, how it can thrive in dark conditions- how do plants live without chlorophyll? Can they even be called plants if they don’t? Or would they be more like fungi, with leaves and fruit? There's so much more she wants to know about it.

It's good that she's filming all of this, so she can practice later. Kai continues to talk to her, though Kyungsoo can only understand a few odd sounds, as she ties the spines together. It looks very complicated, and her fingers move very fast.

Maybe Joonmyeon will be able to help her translate some of what she's saying? She concentrates, listening harder in hopes that that will miraculously help her understand the clicks and trills of the mermaid's language, but it doesn't. She still only knows a few sounds- the ones Kai just taught her- and even then her confidence is low.

Kai finishes the piece she's weaving, and holds it out between her hands for Kyungsoo to see. She isn't quite sure what to make of it; it reminds her of when she first tried knitting, and the (half) finished article (she gave up on it) was a lumpy, asymmetrical mess. But this has a much more deliberate feel to it, and she feels bad for comparing this to her failure. The largest knot sits near the top right of the almost oblong shape, and is surrounded by smaller knots of different kinds. It's not very large, but it looks very complex.

"It's amazing." She says, looking Kai in the eyes as she says it. She must know what the word means, because her face lights up. Kyungsoo smiles softly; Kai is very beautiful when she laughs. Just having the opportunity to be with her like this makes her chest tight.

Rolling the woven piece up in her hands, delicately, Kai holds it out to Kyungsoo, who hesitates. Is she giving it to her? As as gift? Or maybe just to look more closely? She doesn't know what to say.

"For me? For Kyungsoo?" She says in Korean.

"Yes." Kai responds in kind, urging her to take it. In her gloved hands, it isn't going to be easy to do that without fear of breaking it. Eventually, she decides it doesn't matter; she isn't going to pass up an opportunity like this.

"Thank you." She says, receiving the gift with a nod of her head. Her clumsy fingers curl around the soft material, and she hopes to god she doesn't accidentally squish it, since none of her sample containers are big enough for this. Like an idiot, she had only expected to be able to pick very small amounts of anything. Next time she'll come prepared.

Kai moves in very close all of a sudden, and bumps her forehead against Kyungsoo's, or as close as she can through the shield of her helmet. Her hands holds onto both of her shoulders to keep her steady, and Kyungsoo's heart races at the proximity.

" _ Let's go _ !" Kai says, a phrase Kyungsoo has memorised.

" _ Yes _ !" Kyungsoo responds, eager to see more of Kai's world. What more could there be? Maybe they cultivate orchards of food-bearing plants, or perhaps they keep animals that need feeding? Maybe they grow some just for aesthetics? Kyungsoo's mind races as she thinks through all the possibilities. She shuts off her camera and attaches it to her belt, before Kai grabs hold of her arm and pulls her back to her propeller. Kai is adorably excited, and her whistling laughter is infectious; soon Kyungsoo is giggling along with her.

_ Bzzt _ .

Kyungsoo's communicator vibrates against her hip, meaning that Joonmyeon is trying to contact her. Her heart sinks. This can only mean she's run out of time to spend with Kai. With some reluctance, Kyungsoo answers the call.

"Yes, ma'am?"

"Kyungsoo. It's getting close to time; we gotta go. We're cutting it fine as it is, so hurry back." Kyungsoo grits her teeth, knowing full well that their equipment needs to be recharged before they get stranded out here. Though their suits can technically convert oxygen indefinitely, there are other life support functions that need electricity to power them.

"Yes, ma'am." Kyungsoo replies, "I'll be there as soon as I can."

Kai, seeming to sense the mood, has stopped her excited jittery movements, and if it weren't for the slight wave of her hair in the current, she would be still as a stone.

" _ You must return? _ " She says, slowly. Kyungsoo nods then, unsure if she understands the body language, replies verbally.

" _ I understand _ ." Kai says quietly, staring into Kyungsoo's helmet deeply. She twitches once, then shoots off, almost too fast for Kyungsoo's eyes to follow, then returns and instant later with one of the floating plants.

"For Kyungsoo." She explains, holding it out to her. Kyungsoo smiles a watery smile. It feels like they only got a few minutes together, rather than the two hours it was in reality. She tries to remind herself that this isn’t the last time she’ll be able to see her; they still have time. 

She repeats this to herself as Jongin leads her back to the floating village.

Joonmyeon is, predictably, already there and waiting, along with Jongdae. Baekhyun is the only one they’re waiting on, but apparently she’s almost here, so they won’t have to wait for very long.

Kai hovers around Kyungsoo, trilling and trying to talk to her, although Kyungsoo doesn’t understand much, until one of the older merfolk waves her away. Miserably, she drifts out of reach, linking arms with a mermaid who has two smaller merchildren flitting around her playfully. Could that be her mother, perhaps? Kyungsoo watches their interactions with burning curiosity. They certainly seem close. But what does Kyungsoo know about merfolk socialisation? Maybe Joonmyeon will have some ideas.

“Sorry, guys!” Baekhyun bursts onto the scene, being pulled along by the hand of the merfolk who was escorting her. The mermaid lets her go and she drifts headlong into Jongdae’s waiting arms.

“Ooh, what fair maiden has fallen into mine arms?” Jongdae says dramatically, before bursting into giggles.

“Oh, shut up.” Baekhyun gripes through a reluctant smile. 

“Alright, you two, time to get moving.” Joonmyeon reminds them, swimming towards their propulsion fans. It’s hard to leave, Kyungsoo wants to stay longer, but she has to go. She waves goodbye to Kai, her chest feeling hollow as she activates her propulsion fan and starts to leave with the others.

Kyungsoo looks behind her one last time as the floating village fades into grey behind her.

“So how did everyone’s research go?” Joonmyeon prompts, when no one has spoken in a while. 

“Great!” Jongdae enthuses, and it’s like Joonmyeon has unblocked a dam. “We found out what that creature we heard earlier is! We played them back a recording of it, and then they took us into one of their houses- they’re so cool on the inside, by the way- and showed us something really cool- I’ve got pictures, you can see them when I archive them back at the ship- I Think it’s some form of physical recording? Like writing or hieroglyphs, but they use knots to record the information-”

“Jongdae, slow down.” Joonmyeon laughs. “You kind of glossed over your first point; the creature that made the noise?" She addresses Kyungsoo and Baekhyun now, "it appears to be some kind of ground dweller, sort of like a lobster? In a way? Except without the shell? We’ve got a drawing on our screen done by one of the mermaids which we’ll show you when we get back!”

"You got one of them to use the screens?" Kyungsoo asks, imagining handing over a stylus and screen and expecting them to understand just like that.

"Yeah, they picked it up really quickly actually, after we demonstrated how. We've got several drawings of different things, including some of us." Joonmyeon explains. Kyungsoo hums, excited to see the creative exploits of the people here.

"They caught on with the camera pretty quickly as well actually. They're surprisingly good with new things, not all people are." Jongdae comments. “They also don’t seem to have a de-facto leader, it seems to be a sort of elder council-type of scenario? I'm not really sure exactly how it works yet, but when I asked for the person in charge, they couldn't provide us with anyone, so I can only assume at this point. We'll get to the bottom of it soon, I hope! Maybe they even say it in one of the videos we got, I'll scour through it all later."

"Next time we come, we'll bring provisions so that we can stay for longer."

"Can't we relocate the ship itself?" Baekhyun asks. Kyungsoo frowns; she thought they had already covered this in pre-flight orientation. Once they land, the ship is to be immobile until return flight. It's inconvenient, but more discreet. The ship's engine isn't loud by earth standards, not when compared to other rockets at least, but sound carries further in water. Add to that the possible emissions they'll be releasing into an untouched atmosphere, and they have good reason to stay put.

"Not without potentially disturbing wildlife." Joonmyeon shakes her head, "We're going to be disruptive enough when we take off, I don't want to cause more damage than we have to."

"Oh." Baekhyun sighs. "So we're going to have to make this trip every time we want to visit?"

"Unfortunately yes." Joonmyeon agrees, sounding as put out about it as everyone feels. “Baekhyun, what about you? You seemed a bit nervous when you left, but you were fine coming back?”

“Oh, yeah!” Baekhyun perks up. Kyungsoo can’t see her face from this angle, but she can hear her smile in the way she’s talking, “she was really nice, actually! It was kind of hard to have a proper conversation, but I think she found the fact that I tried at all kind of funny? I mostly just recorded her talking, so I was hoping we could all go over the footage later on? But what I managed to pick up without her explaining is that everything seems to run on thermal currents! There are underwater volcanoes, and they’re really active; there’s really recent igneous rock deposits- I got several different samples- and the water vents from the planet's core create thermal currents which seem to be keeping the planet alive, kind of similar to earth I guess, but their thermohaline circulation system is probably a lot more complex, since there aren't any large land masses in the way, and the thermal energy originates from the centre of the planet rather than the surface. That is if they have a regular one anyway, it may just be an unpredictable mass of interlocking and changing currents and...” Kyungsoo zones out at this point, and lets her mutter away, rearranging the plant that Kai gave her and making sure its not getting jostled too much. It seems to be faring better than she had expected. None of the spindly leaves have fallen out yet. She feels like she should treasure it, since it was given to her. It's sort of a weird way to feel about a plant, given that she's used to pulling them apart layer by layer and staring at them under microscopes, and not looking after them like cacti, but this one just feels different.

"... can't wait to find out how many vent openings there are, there's probably thousands of individual convection currents that interlink, and their village seems to be located pretty much directly on top of one of the openings so..." It's amazing that she's still going on about just the currents, normally its just the ground that gets her going like this.

"What about you, Kyungsoo?" The sound of her name makes her jump.

"Huh?"

"Nice to know that you were listening." Baekhyun sniffs. Oh great, now she's in for it.

"I was. Sort of." She was listening until she wasn't.

"Uh-huh. Too busy mooning over the fish that gave you that plant, huh? I see how it is."

"Shut up. It's just a sample." She mumbles, embarrassed.

"Then why isn't it in a sample jar?" Baekhyun sneers, and Jongdae can't hold back an ugly snort of laughter.

"You think you could get this to fit in a sample jar? Be my guest." Kyungsoo raises her voice a bit, on the defensive now.

"Ladies, please." Joonmyeon scolds, but she's trying not to laugh as well. Whatever, so one of the mermaids gave her a plant. It shouldn't be that big of a deal! She's just glad none of them have noticed the bracelet piece she's still wearing yet. Once they see that, they're probably never going to let her hear the end of it, especially if the knots have meaning. Who knows what Kai has given her.

"So, Kyungsoo, what is that, exactly?" Joonmyeon prods once again, sounding a bit less constipated this time.

"It's the plant fibre that everything is made from." Kyungsoo says, still somewhat sulkily. "They call it-" She tries to reproduce the sound Kai taught her.

"That makes sense, actually. I thought it might be refined somehow, but why bother when it already grows just like that?"

"Exactly. Also, the core is edible, and it’s kind of like a peach? In that there's a seed or a stone inside. I've got a video of her making something out of the leaves as well."

"A good trip then. We've got a lot of work archiving all of this, we may need to stay in the ship for several days just to archive everything properly."

"Noo, I want to hang out with them again!" Jongdae wails, kicking her legs.

"I do too, but we came here with a job to do. I want to at the very least get a decent amount of speech inputted so that I can try and get some kind of translation algorithm in progress. I think that's pretty vital in our investigations, don't you? We're not here for long enough to properly learn the language."

"Yeah, good point." Jongdae concedes. "This research paper is going to be like... five thousand pages long." She grouses, as though she isn't going to spend every waking minute on the ship working on it.

 

A long time later, they arrive back at the ship, and Kyungsoo is ready to sleep. All of them are, really, but they all need to store their samples and upload all the research videos and photos and data for today. Zombie-like, they all pile into the waterlock, except for Kyungsoo, who waits outside with her plant for someone to throw a sample jar big enough for the plant to fit inside. They must have travelled well over five hundred miles today. The mermaids are able to do this without breaking a sweat, or whatever their equivalent of tiredness might be. They're really amazing creatures.

A shout from above warns Kyungsoo of an incoming jar, so she’s ready for it when it comes splashing down in front of her. She swims forward and grabs it, gently putting the plant inside; it doesn’t quite fit, the spines are all curled around the edge, but it's the best she can do without taking it apart. She’s too tired to really care that much at the moment, and this should be enough to keep it alive until she’s slept. She can take better care of it after a few hours sleep.

Kai’s gift is placed gently on the floor just outside her cubicle in the shower room. .She’s pretty sure she actually falls asleep for a moment while she’s showering; she can’t help it, the sole sound of the water hitting the tile floor is soothing white noise. Once she’s dressed sloppily in her uniform, skipping out on the cravat, she carries her screen under one arm and the plant under the other up to the top deck. The others are already in the lab when Kyungsoo arrives, and while she uploads her screen data to the main terminal, Kyungsoo wonders if she should keep her gift-  _ sample-  _ in here or in the garden.

Here, she decides, is the best option. She isn’t sure if temperature needs to regulated, but the garden has UV lights which will almost certainly be bad for it. In here, she can keep it under a blanket or something to make sure it's in the dark.

With vacant eyes she watches the loading bar progress across the screen, vaguely noting when the others bid her goodnight when they leave. When it finally reaches the end, she closes down her computer, readjusts the blanket so it completely covers the jar, and goes to her quarters. The ship corridors are cold, compared to the close heat of the deep ocean, and her bedroom is dark. She trips over some discarded clothes from that morning on her way to her bed, stripping off her uniform until she’s only in her underwear. She’s too tired for pyjamas.

Her last thought as she lies back is of Kai, a distant wondering of what she might be doing right now. Is she getting ready to sleep as well? Is she thinking of her too?

She barely even pulls the blankets around her before she’s out like a light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> still dont know when ill get aroudn to the next update but in the meantime feel free to bother me on curiouscat or twitter (@celerydragon) about it if you want :)

**Author's Note:**

> im really nervous to be posting this, its been a long time since i started (planning) it and i just really hope ppl dont hate it aahh ive not been this nervous about posting in ages maybe its bc this is the first thing ive done in ages weiruavnoa idk but anyway i hope u enjoyed ;~;


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